Bully
by Kavella
Summary: Vital information is being stored at a school on Lothal, and Sabine and Ezra must go undercover to get it. While Sabine is eager to show her brilliance, Ezra could not shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happens when Ezra attracts the attention of the school bully and gets mixed up in a deadly Imperial experiment that can kill.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! I'm so excited to share this story with you. I hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter 1 - A Bad Feeling**

Ezra did not like the mission plan.

He had voiced his concerns multiple times to the crew, but they did not listen to him. They had said that it was going to be fine, and that he had nothing to worry about. But Ezra had a very bad feeling about this mission. He wanted to tell them, but they would just say that he was worrying too much. So reluctantly, he had been forced to go along.

Kanan had heard rumors about a school on Lothal where vital information was being held on the Empire's plan for the young children of the , the information was being stored deep in the basement of a school on Lothal. It would have to be an inside job.

And that's where Sabine and Ezra came in. They would enroll in the school, find the plans, and then get out. It seemed easy enough, but Ezra was afraid for multiple reasons. And not just because of his bad feeling.

He had stopped going to school when he was seven, after the Empire had torn his world from under his feet, forcing him to live alone and in fear. He had not been to school for about eight years and now the crew wanted him to walk right in and everything would go just fine. But he could not admit this to them, but Ezra Bridger could not read very well. He was going to look like a moron in school, unlike Sabine. Ezra knew that she was highly educated; she would have no problem fitting in. She might even have fun.

But Ezra knew that he would not.

A knock on the door broke Ezra from his thoughts as he sat up on his bunk. In the door frame stood Kanan, his arm supporting his leaning body on the door frame.

"You ready, Ezra?"

"Yeah, sure." Ezra jumped off his bunk and detached his lightsaber from his belt. He walked up to Kanan and handed it to him. "Make sure Chopper doesn't take it, I don't want him to blow up the ship while I'm gone." Ezra saw Kanan smirk a little, as he accepted the lightsaber.

"Listen, Ezra, I know you don't necessarily like the mission," Kanan said, and he was about to continue before Ezra interrupted him.

"That's an understatement." He heard Kanan let out a small sigh.

"But we have to do this. The information could be of value in taking out the Empire."

"I know, Kanan."

"Then why are you hesitant?" Kanan asked, looking at his padawan with concern.

"It's just-" Ezra stopped himself, looking up at his master. He looked at Kanan and saw him look confused.

"It's just what? Is it something with the force?"

_Blast it_, Ezra thought. Kanan could always see right through him, which bothered the teen to no end.

"It's nothing, Kanan," Ezra said, deciding not to tell him about the feeling he could not shake. Kanan gave Ezra a questioning look, before speaking up.

"Alright then. Get dressed." Kanan walked out, leaving Ezra to be alone with his self-doubt. Kanan always told him to trust his instincts, having it to do something with the force, but Ezra brushed it off as nervousness. Deep down he knew it was more than that.

He knew something was going to go wrong.

Sighing, he looked over at the school uniform lying on the small container in his room. It consisted of a white collared shirt and grey slacks, along with a grey tie. Ezra wrinkled his nose in disgust. He was _definitely _not going to like this mission.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	2. Chapter 2

Hello! I'm so excited to share this story with you. I hope you like this chapter!

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**Chapter 2 - ****Glare**

As it turned out, Sabine had the same thoughts about the uniform as Ezra did.

"It's just so _bland!_" Sabine said to Kanan, who was walking with them to their school. He had taken off his armor and his weapon belt in an attempt to blend in.

"I know, Sabine, but it's only temporary." Ezra could not see Sabine's face, but he knew she was rolling her eyes at Kanan as she continued on protesting.

Ezra walked a little behind them, dreading what was about to happen. He was going to go to school. He had not been to school since his parents had been around. Ezra took a deep breath, trying to remove the memory of them from his thoughts. It would just feel _weird_ going here, when he had no parents. It felt unnatural.

"Ezra?" He glanced up to see Kanan looking at him. "We're here." Ezra looked over at the school building. It was about two stories high, and as bland as the uniforms. He saw Sabine already walking inside, and was about to rush after her before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?" Kanan asked, looking down at Ezra.

"I'm fine." Ezra steadied his breathing. The last thing he needed was to start to show emotions on the first day. He shrugged Kanan's hand off of his shoulder and joined Sabine.

They walked down the hallways, which seemed much larger than necessary to Ezra, and they came upon classroom 10B.

"Alright, Ezra. This is your class. I'll be in 11A. Have fun!" Sabine said, as she started to walk quickly to her class, eager to show off her knowledge. Ezra looked back up at the door. He was thinking the exact opposite of Sabine. Mustering his strength, he opened the door and stepped inside.

He stood before the class of teenagers his age, all wearing the same bland uniform.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" The old teacher spoke with a toneless voice.

"Umm… My name's Dev Morgan."

"Thank you, Dev Morgan. Please take your seat." The teacher turned back to the board and started talking again, his toneless voice echoing through the silent room. Ezra slid into a desk near the back, the only one empty, next to another boy. Ezra glanced over at him and the boy gave him a glare. Ezra quickly looked back at the board. He did not want to attract attention to himself.

Now he just had to make it to lunch when Sabine and him could sneak into the basement and snatch the plans. He just hoped the teacher would not call on him, since he could barely understand what was written on the board.

* * *

Sabine walked into her classroom, and the teacher asked her to introduce herself. Confidently, Sabine stood in front of the crowd of kids who wore the same bland colors as the school building.

"I'm Monet." A smile formed on her face. Academically, they were all about to be crushed. She took her seat in the second row, and took out the notebook she had snuck in, even though she knew she would not have to use it.

The teacher began to lecture, and she turned to the class to ask a question. "Can anyone tell me about the Confederacy of Independent Systems?" Sabine smiled when the teacher looked confused at the new girl raising her hand.

"Uh, yes…Monet?"

"The government and separatist movement led by Darth Sidious and his apprentice Count Duko, which left the Galactic Republic because of the debate over the taxation and corruption. This soon led to the war."

Sabine could feel all of the eyes look over at her, and this just made her smile more.

"..yes, exactly. Excellent, Monet." Astounded, the teacher turned back to the board to continue lecturing. Sabine looked down to her notebook and began sketching, only half listening to the lecture but still answering all of the questions correctly.

Sabine was loving being in the spotlight. It was quite a change from her normal routine.

"Whoa, that's really cool." The whisper drew Sabine from her thoughts, and she looked over at the source of it. The girl sitting next to her had blond hair tied loosely in a side braid.

"Thanks." Sabine replied, proud of her artwork. She almost went back to drawing before she glanced over at the girl's desk. She was drawing a picture of a flower on her notes. "Whoa, that looks really cool, like that one artist drew."

"He's my inspiration!" The girl replied in a hushed yell.

"Same here!" Sabine replied, excited that someone understood her art.

"My name's Aida by the way. Do you want to sit with me at lunch today?"

"Sure!" Sabine replied, already looking forward to being able to talk about her favorite subject to someone who understood it. A few minutes could not hurt the mission, could it?

* * *

"Dev? What is the answer?" _Blast it._ He had hoped, but it had not worked. He had not been paying attention to a word the man had said; it was giving him a headache. Ezra looked up at the board, hoping to maybe this time understand the words. Unfortunately he was not successful.

"Umm…what was the question?" Ezra winced as the class let out a laugh, and the teacher did not look pleased.

"Who manufactured the TIE fighters?"

Ezra had no idea.

"Umm…the Empire?" The class let out another giggle. So much for not bringing any attention to himself.

"Could you be any more specific?" The teacher asked again, more annoyed that Ezra thought was possible.

"Uhh… the pilots?"

"Not. Even. Close. Can anyone else tell me?"

"Raith Sienar," someone from the class blurted out.

"Yes." The teacher looked at Ezra as he spoke, which made him sink lower into his seat. "Raith Sienar was an engineer…"

Ezra zoned out again, not wanting to strain his brain any more. He thought force headaches were bad, but he had never been border in his entire life. He wanted to get this over with. He glanced up at the boy who sat next to him and confirmed his suspicion. The brown haired boy was still giving him the death glare.

And Ezra did not want to stick around to find out why.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	3. Chapter 3

Hello! I'm super excited for this story; I've written a lot more of it, and I can't wait to share it. I hope you like this chapter!

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**Chapter 3 – Struck a Nerve**

As soon as the lunch bell rang, Ezra shot out of his seat and out of the class. The boy, whose name was Rolf as Ezra had found out, had started to fling things at him. First it was pieces of paper, but it gradually turned into pencils and pens. Ezra had to keep his cool to make sure he did not accidentally use the force. He had no clue why the boy had chosen him to be his next play thing, but he knew how to avoid people, which was what he was attempting to do as he made his way to the cafeteria.

When he got there, he almost immediately spotted Sabine with her streaks of color in her hair. He walked over to see that she was at a table with another girl with blonde hair. He walked up to Sabine and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yes?" She asked, as if she did not know.

"Uh, Monet. I thought we were going to eat _together_?" Ezra asked, hinting at the fact that they needed to get the plans.

"Who is this?" The other girl asked, looking at Ezra.

"Aida, this is my…younger brother, Dev."

"Hello, Dev." Aida said, smiling at Ezra.

"Yeah, hi, whatever. Sabine, could I talk to you in private?" Ezra asked.

"Okay. I'll be right back." Sabine got up and Ezra followed her into the corner of the cafeteria where they were somewhat in private.

"What are you doing? We need to hurry up and get the plans."

"Oh, relax. We have time. Besides, Aida is totally an art lover. She understands my perspective."

"Sabine, we don't have time for this." Ezra protested further, not wanting to go back into the classroom anytime soon.

"You're overreacting. Go to the basement door and I'll meet you there in five minutes, tops," Sabine said.

"This is not a good idea."

"Need I remind you that Kanan said that _I_ have point on this mission?" Ezra grunted at Sabine's stubbornness, and turned away from her and walked away towards the door. He looked back and saw her go back to the table with Aida, and they did seem to be having a deep conversation. But that gave Sabine no reason to jeopardize the mission like this.

Ezra reached for the door. Deciding not to go in the basement yet, he leaned against the wall. A few minutes passed by and Ezra was growing impatient. He looked again down the hall, but who he saw coming left a sinking feeling in his stomach.

This could not end well.

* * *

Down the hall came Roth, with a few followers. He instantly spotted him and a grin formed on his face.

Ezra knew where this was going. He began to raise his mental shields in order to attempt to calm himself. He was going to need it.

Roth approached him. "Hey, stupid. What do you think you're doing here?"

"That's none of your business," Ezra stated, his face in a neutral position.

"Actually, I think it is." Roth grabbed Ezra's collar and pulled him off the wall. Ezra stumbled but stopped himself from falling, and turned back to face Roth. "What's the matter, stupid?" he mocked, shoving Ezra again while the boys behind him snickered.

"Hey! What's your problem with me?" Ezra asked, standing his ground against the bully.

"That's none of your business," he said in a mocking voice. "What did I say, guys? He's so stupid." The shouts of the bully had attracted the unwanted attention of other students, who seemed to stop and watch what was going on. Nervously, Ezra continued to stand up.

"Don't be a jerk." Ezra stood up straight, but Roth continued on.

"You know what? He's right guys. _I_ wouldn't want to waste my time on this poor, stupid loth-rat."

That stuck a nerve.

As soon as the words had left Roth's mouth, Ezra had whipped around and pounced on top of Roth, using his weight to push him to the ground. He threw punches left and right blindly, before he was overpowered by the bully. He was tossed aside and slid a little on the floor before scrambling up. Roth quickly punched him in the stomach and across the face before Ezra regained his balance. Roth threw another punch aimed at his side.

Ezra quickly slid out of the way of the Roth's punch and grabbed his arm. The look on his face was priceless. Ezra spun his body and flung Roth into the wall.

"What is going on here?" Ezra froze in his tracks, as did his attacker, as a teacher broke into the ring of students, who were fleeing away. Ezra looked around and saw his teacher standing at the scene, not looking pleased. But over the teacher's shoulder he saw Sabine, who had a look of shock on her face.

"You're coming with me to the office." The teacher rushed over and grabbed Ezra's forearm, as well as Roth's and began marching towards the office. Ezra looked back at Sabine, who had changed from a shocked look to a disappointed look. Why she was disappointed Ezra did not know. The fight was her fault anyway. If she had shown up earlier, he would not be in this mess. Ezra sighed as he was dragged off to the office.

* * *

Sabine was deep in a conversation about art when she noticed something was off. There was a mass of teens running down the hallway that Ezra had gone through earlier. Something was up.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Sabine asked the blonde-haired girl she was sitting next to.

"Probably some fight; it's best to stay out of them."

"I'm going to check it out. I'll be right back," Sabine said. She stood up and followed the flow of the teenagers to the source. She hoped Ezra had not gotten into trouble.

But like he always said, it did find him. So when she saw that Ezra was in the middle of the ring of teenagers, she was not too surprised. She saw Ezra slide out of the way of the other kid's punch, and flinging him across the hall. Sabine knew that this could not end well. All of the attention Ezra was drawing would not allow them to be able to complete their mission.

"What do you think you're doing here?"

A voice rang out from the shouts of the now fleeing teens, and the teacher who it came from quickly dragged the fighters off. Sabine and Ezra made eye contact, and she was upset at Ezra from screwing up the mission. As least, that's what she wanted him to think. She was actually sort of happy that she got to come back to the school for another day. Sabine turned back and walked towards the cafeteria, a slight smile on her face.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	4. Chapter 4

Hello!

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**Chapter 4 - Haircut**

Kanan was not happy.

He sat in the principal's office in a wooden chair, across from the principal himself. He was a typical Empire loyalist, wearing formal clothing with not a single strand out of place.

"We just wanted to inform you so a proper punishment could be carried out."

And that led Kanan to the reason _why_ he had to sit in the humid office listening to a loyalist drone on and on about what Ezra had done. Honestly, he could not blame him. He wanted to fight this man as well. He glanced over at Ezra, who was slumped in the chair next to him.

"Oh, yes. Rest assured, I will make sure that this does _not_ happen again," Kanan glanced over at Ezra, trying his best to look disappointed. He was slightly, but he was more annoyed that something had distracted them from the mission.

"But that's not fair. The other kid started it, and he's not in trouble!" Ezra exclaimed, obviously still upset about what was happening. And he was not wrong. Kanan had seen the way the teen had smirked at Ezra as he walked out, and muttered something under his breath to him.

"That was not how Roth had told the story." Knowing the principle was losing patience, and knowing that Ezra would not let it slide, Kanan quickly butted in.

"Yes, Sir, we understand. If you don't mind, I'd like to take Dev home now." Kanan heard the grumble from Ezra.

"Certainly. And how about getting the kid a haircut, he seems to need one. Now leave." The man waved him off and it took all of Kanan's willpower to walk away. It also seemed to take all of Ezra's, considering Kanan almost had to drag him out of the office.

As soon as they were outside, they meet up with Sabine.

"There you are. How'd it go?" she asked, as she fell into step with them.

"The NERVE of that guy." Ezra walked with his arms folded, still upset over the scene that had just happened.

"I know, Ezra. I wanted to punch him too," Kanan agreed.

"I take it did _not_ go too well," Sabine stated as they approached the _Ghost_, that was landed in an empty field on the outskirts of town.

"No, it didn't. And now the mission is blown all thanks to you." Ezra stopped walking and turned to Sabine.

"What do you mean _my fault_? You're the one who got into the fight!"

"If _you _hadn't been to busy socializing with your new best friend, then I wouldn't have had to fight!"

"I'm not the reason _you _decided to pick a fight!" Sabine said, and took a step towards Ezra.

"_I'm _not the one who picked it! He did!"

"Then you should have not engaged him in a fight!"

"Hey, Ezra, Sabine, cool it," Kanan said, but his attempts to stop the fight were ignored by the teens.

"I didn't have a choice! I had to defend myself!" Ezra shouted back at Sabine.

"Defend yourself? I heard you threw the first punch!"

Kanan stopped his attempts to pull them apart, taken back by this statement. It was not like his padawan to start a fight at this magnitude. Kanan knew that something else was behind it.

"So what if I did? He's the one who-" Ezra stopped himself quickly, turning away from the standoff between the two teens.

"He's the one who what?" Sabine asked, not knowing that for Ezra the fight was over, as Kanan observed.

"It doesn't matter." Ezra turned and walked aboard the ship. Kanan exchanged glances with Sabine, and turned and boarded as well. Kanan climbed up the ladder and into the cockpit, where Hera sat at the controls, running maintenance. He took the seat next to her, and watched her work in silence. When Hera noticed Kanan, she began to speak.

"Well – what happened? I could hear Ezra and Sabine arguing from here."

"Ezra started a fight at school, and because of that, they couldn't get the data," Kanan stated. Hera spun around in her chair to face him.

"What? Kanan, that's not good. We have a limited window – not to mention that one of us could be recognized. Why did he start a fight? He knew the importance of this mission."

"It had to do with a few things. First, Sabine got sidetracked, and second…I think he was picked on."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the other kid must have said something to Ezra that made him attack like that. I just don't know what would trigger him to do that." He looked up at Hera, who was about to say something, but Kanan cut her off, knowing what she was going to say. "And I'm not going to ask him; he seemed pretty upset."

"Fine. I'll ask him." Hera stood and began walking toward Ezra's room.

"Hera, that's not what I suggested!" Kanan shouted, as he stood and tried to catch up with her. They turned down the hallway, and they saw Zeb standing in the hallway, banging on the door.

"Kid, I swear, if you don't open the door _this minute_, I'll-"

"You'll what? If you didn't notice, I'm in here and you're out there." Ezra's voice was muffled by the walls. Kanan heard Zeb growl, as he banged once more on the door before giving up. He turned and saw Kanan and Hera standing there.

"Good luck. You're going to need it." Zeb turned and walked off down the hallway. Hera and Kanan exchanged glances before walking in front of Ezra's door.

"Ezra? It's Hera. Can I come in?"

"Go away." Hera was taken back for a moment, before quickly recovering.

"Ezra, I don't know what's wrong, but you can't stay in there. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Go away." Kanan heard Hera sigh. She turned around to face Kanan.

"Why don't you try? You're his master. He'll listen to you."

Kanan took a step closer to the door as Hera took a step back. He knocked twice, and paused.

"Ezra, I'm coming in." Not waiting for a response, Kanan flicked his wrist and the door open. He walked in, and the door slid shut behind him. He glanced around the room, looking for the always energetic teen. But when he saw him, he looked anything but energetic.

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	5. Chapter 5

Hello! This chapter was suppose to come out yesterday, but I kept on getting some error report? Did anyone else get this, or was it just me? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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**Chapter 5 - Parenting**

Ezra was in no mood to open the door. He heard Zeb's banging, but soon he finally gave up. Ezra sighed, having avoided any awkward conversation about the fight. He was sitting on the floor, resting his head on his knees with his back leaning against the bunk.

He did not want to hide away in his room, but he could not face the crew with his blood shot eyes and sour mood. They all knew that he got into a fight, and he knew Kanan would be disappointed. He was upset, frustrated. He thought that kids would stop bullying each other when they were older; but he had been proven wrong.

Knocking on his door interrupted him from his thoughts. He sighed, not wanting to face anyone and be forced to talk about what had happened. Thinking it was Zeb again, Ezra was surprised that Hera's muffled voice came from outside the room.

"Ezra? It's Hera. Can I come in?" Ezra grimaced, not wanting to hurt Hera's feeling, but he had to stay in his shell if he wanted to avoid the topic.

"Go away."

There was a slight pause before Hera continued.

"Ezra, I don't know what's wrong, but you can't stay in there. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Go away." Ezra felt worse for having to shut Hera out like this. She had been nice to him from the moment he stepped onto her ship, and this was how he repaid her.

"Ezra, I'm coming in." Kanan's voice echoed throughout the room. Ezra mentally face palmed for forgetting that Kanan could use the force as he heard the door to his room slide open. But he did not want to look up at his master.

He knew that what he did went against the Jedi order, but he had just been so _angry_, and let his emotions take over. Ezra knew that he was disappointed, and could not bear to look up and see his face.

After a few moments, he felt a breeze and heard Kanan sit down on the bottom bunk. Still, Ezra refused to remove his head from atop of his knees. Kanan spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Ezra…It's okay." He said, and Ezra looked up.

"No, it's not." He saw Kanan looking into his blue eyes, and knowing that they were probably blood shot, Ezra quickly turned his head away.

Kanan did not know how to comfort his padawan. He knew that Ezra was hurting, but he did not want to push him to open up. The last time he had done that, he had used the dark side of the force. Kanan stifled a shudder, not wanting that to happen again. He turned back to Ezra.

"Ezra, you can sense something, can't you?" Ezra bit his lip, and turned back to face Kanan. He made eye contact, but he lowered his eyes before he spoke.

"Yeah, I did."

"What is it?"

"It was nothing. Just a bad feeling."

"How so?"

"What do you care? It doesn't matter. Sabine blew the mission." Ezra stood up in frustration, and looked back down at the ground. "…I blew the mission."

"Ezra, it's alright. You'll try again tomorrow."

"Wait, _tomorrow_?" Ezra whipped around to face Kanan. "What do you mean, _tomorrow_?"

Kanan grimaced at the detail he had let slip. "Yeah, Ezra, about that. We're going to try to get the information one more time. It'll stretch our time limit, but-"

"No." Kanan looked up at the young boy who had cut him off.

"Ezra, what do you mean no?"

"No. I'm not going back there. Sabine can go herself."

"Look, Ezra, I know that you don't want to talk about it, but I know that you got picked on by-"

"You don't know anything." Ezra said coldly, and walked toward the door, about to leave.

"Ezra, we have to get the data disk. It will only be one more day. You can't let your emotions distract you from the mission." Ezra froze in place, and his shoulders slumped.

"Just one more day?"

"Yes, I promise." A few moments later, Ezra let out a sigh.

"Okay, fine. One more day."

But before Kanan could respond to Ezra, the door slid shut, leaving Kanan alone.

Kanan was worried. The mission was taking its toll on his padawan, but Sabine needed someone to watch her back during the mission. Kanan sighed. He needed to talk to her next.

Who knew that parenting was so hard?

* * *

Kanan knocked on Sabine's door, and after hearing a 'come in,' he did so. Sabine was standing with her spray painter in hand, looking at one of her murals.

"Sabine, can we talk?"

"Is this about Ezra? Because I have no clue what happened," Sabine responded, not even glancing at Kanan, who raised his eyebrows in suspicion.

"I think you do." This elicited a reaction from Sabine, who finally turned around to look at him.

"Look, it wasn't my fault he got into a fight. I don't even know how it started."

"I know that, Sabine."

"Then why are you asking?"

"I just want to know why you didn't stop him when the fight broke out." Sabine took in a breath before answering.

"Well, I kind of wasn't _exactly _there at the time."

"Wait, what?" Kanan had a confused look on his face, complementary to the one Sabine had, which was more of a guilty look.

"I-" Sabine stopped herself, and realization came across her face, and she sighed. "I got distracted." Sabine looked down at the floor, avoiding looking at Kanan. "Ezra was right. It was my fault." Sabine stooped onto her bad, sitting down. "I just wanted to-. I didn't think he would-."

"Sabine, it's not your fault; everyone makes mistakes. Tomorrow you'll try again – but this is the last chance we'll get." Sabine nodded in agreement with Kanan's words.

"All I want to know is _why_ he started the fight. It just didn't make sense," Sabine said.

"Yeah, you and me both." Kanan looked down at the floor, lost in his own deep thoughts about his padawan. "You and me both."

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	6. Chapter 6

Hello! So sorry this is late, I've been super busy. But I'm back and will return to regular updates. I jsut want to say that this is my favorite chapter, and I hope you will like it as much as I do! Enjoy!

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**Chapter 6 - Secrets**

The bell rang, and for the second time, Ezra shot out of his seat, avoiding the bully. Ezra raced down the hallways and through the cafeteria, heading towards the basement door. He was glad that Sabine had apologized to him earlier, and glad that he would not have to stick around the school long enough for the detention he had gotten. He couldn't help it when his sarcasm snuck out of his mouth; it was in his nature.

He turned the corner and saw Sabine standing by the door in her school uniform. When she saw him, she spoke up.

"You ready?"

"Yeah. Let's do this and get out of here."

Sabine stepped to the side, and Ezra pulled out his screwdriver from his pants pocket. He was surprised at how large they were when he first tried them on. Someone could fit a whole data-pad in them.

The click of the now unlocked door drew Ezra from his thoughts. Sabine rushed in first, but before Ezra followed, he glanced down the hall. The same feeling came to him; something did not feel right.

"Hurry up," Sabine said, in a hushed voice. Shaking off his feeling, Ezra turned and started descending into the basement, closing the door behind him.

The dim red lights hanging from the ceiling gave off an eerie glow as the two teens snuck down the stairs. Ezra could see filing cabinets all around the walls, and rows upon rows of metal shelves were filled with boxes.

"The data chip should be in the back room." Sabine pointed to a door on the opposite wall of the room. Ezra nodded, and they began walking through the rows of files. The silence was not kept by the sound of a bell being rung. Startled, the two teens looked back towards the stairs. They were running out of time. Someone would notice their absence and try to find them. Sabine continued walking at a faster pace, making it to the door and turning the knob.

Inside the small room stood a metal desk with stacked data pads tossed carelessly on top. The room looked older, with papers scattered around the floor and filing cabinets scattered in awkward positions. Sabine took a step, but a small rat scurried out of the room. Sabine and Ezra jumped back, surprised that they were not alone.

After watching the rat race away, they stepped inside the small room and closed the door behind them.

"Quick, it should be about the size of your palm." Sabine started opening filing cabinets as Ezra walked over to the desk. Shifting the data tables around, nothing seemed to be that small.

"What is this place? It looks like it hasn't been used in years." Ezra crouched down and began to open the desk drawers.

"This was where the files were kept on the students a long time ago. I'm actually surprised they still kept the room."

"Wait, how long ago?"

"Around seven, eight years ago." Ezra froze.

"Hey, Sabine, could you help me open this drawer? It's stuck." Sabine turned and looked at Ezra. She had a confused look on her face, but came over none the less. The drawer was stuck, but Ezra did not notice. He just needed a diversion.

He quickly walked over to the file cabinet marked with a 'B'. He pulled it open and began rooting through the files until he came upon the one he needed.

'E. Bridger.' Emotions hit Ezra, but he quickly waved them off. He could not let Sabine see. He grabbed the few papers that were inside and shoved them into his pocket. He replaced the folder, closing the cabinet drawer.

"Man, this is stuck." Ezra turned and looked at Sabine, who was still struggling to open the cabinet. Sabine reached for her back, right where her shirt overlapped her skirt, and pulled out one of her guns.

"Sabine! How did you… Why did you…_What_?"

"Hey, don't blame me. I felt like I was missing something without the weight." Sabine switched the safety on the gun to off.

"Do you know how dangerous that is? What if you got caught?" Ezra was now yelling in a hushed whisper at Sabine's carelessness.

"I didn't get caught. Besides, it's about to come in handy. Let's just hope it's in here."

"Sabi-" The blaster shot echoed through the room, and the drawer smoked a bit from the blast. "Are you _insane_?"

"Keep your voice down!"

"I don't think it matters anymore since you _just fired a shot_."

"Well, would you rather it be an explosion?"

"Wait, are you saying you brought _bombs_ with you to school?" Sabine paused, looking up at Ezra.

"I neither deny nor confirm that statement."

"Sabine! Where did you even keep them?"

"Hey, a girl's got to have her secrets." Sabine smiled at Ezra briefly, before returning to the mission. "Keep looking through the cabinets." Sabine slid open the drawer with ease, and Ezra sighed. There was no point in arguing about it now, anyway. He walked over to the drawer with the letter 'H' marked on the top. Opening it, he shifted through the files, until he came across one that made him freeze.

'R. Hayes'

The file was Roth's.

Quickly, he opened it up, but found that nothing was inside. It did not make sense to Ezra. All the other files had plenty of papers in them, but not this one. Oddly enough, there was a small piece of paper wedged in, with the words 'See File X.' written on it. Curious, Ezra quickly replaced the file and went to the file cabinet marked with an 'X'. He opened the first drawer, but it was empty.

Completely empty.

Something was wrong. Why was Roth's file in the basement? Wouldn't they have moved it with the new files? And why was this entire cabinet empty?

Ezra crouched down, reaching for the last drawer, when he saw something odd on the wall. There was a sort of gap in between the floor and the wall. It spanned a little more than one meter. Ezra stood up and noticed that the same thing was true at the top. There was a small indent before this section of the wall hit the ceiling. Pushing a filing cabinet out of the way, he came closer to the section of wall.

"What are you doing?" Sabine's voice startled Ezra, having forgotten he was not alone.

"There's something wrong with this part of the wall. See?" He pointed to the floor and ceiling where the wall did not touch. Sabine looked at it, but continued her search.

"We need to keep looking. We're almost out of time. And there's something off with this drawer. There was nothing in it." Ezra turned and looked at Sabine, who held the drawer up for him to see.

"Try checking if there's a secret compartment. In the principal's office yesterday, the secretary had the same drawer with nothing in it."

"Wait, how do you know this?" Sabine looked up from the drawer as Ezra shrugged.

"I got bored." Ezra turned back around to face the wall. He began knocking on it, and leaned his head on it to see if he could hear anything.

"Found it!" Sabine shouted in a hushed tone, as she held the information card in her hand. "You were right. Now come on, let's get out of here." Sabine opened the door and shot out. Ezra was about to follow when a voice struck panic through him.

"And what do you think _you're_ doing here?"

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(Note: For all of you _Not the Only One_ readers, the next chapter will come out tomorrow)

Thanks for reading!

R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	7. Chapter 7

Hello! So there's not too much happening in this chapter, and I apologize for that, but I promise the next chapter will have more action.

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**Chapter 7 – Caught**

Sabine froze. Before her stood the principal, looking as stern as ever. She was busted. She just hoped Ezra had not followed her. It would not help if they had both been caught. Sabine was a fast runner, and had made it halfway to the stairs before he had shown up out of nowhere.

"What?" Sabine was too shocked by the sudden appearance to think of anything else to say. Sabine was suddnely grateful that her hand holding the data card was behind her back, away from the principals view.

"Young lady, this is a restricted area. I don't care _how_ well you're doing in school, you're coming with me." As he was speaking, Sabine subtly slid the card in between two boxes on the shelf behind her. After concealing it, she knew that she was going to be alright. The principal could not know that the real reason she was down her was to steal information.

"Yes, sir. Sorry. I got curious." Sabine shrugged her shoulders, hoping to get out of punishment, but it was no use.

"Your parents will hear about this." Sabine was led out of the basement towards the office.

No, her real parents would not hear about this. But Kanan is not going to be pleased, having to sit through another parent meeting with the loyalist. But Sabine just hoped that Ezra would find the data card.

Now, the whole mission depended on him.

* * *

Kanan sighed as he approached the school, yet again.

He had been called in for a meeting with the loyalist principal. But this time he felt slightly anxious. If Ezra and Sabine had gotten caught during the mission, there would be no hope in retrieving the data, and the mission would be a complete loss. But then again, Sabine and Ezra were more than capable of pulling it off. Kanan even saw Sabine slip a few explosives into her backpack, but knowing Sabine, didn't question it.

He just hoped they had gotten the data card.

But then another thought crossed Kanan's mind. What if Ezra had gotten into a fight again? Then what would they do? Kanan knew that they could not risk staying in the school; they could be recognized at any time, and that would be a disaster.

But if Ezra got into another fight, he might be kicked out of the school, leaving Sabine having to do it alone. And Ezra would probably not talk to anyone about it like before, something that bothered Kanan. He just wanted to know if his padawan was alright, and he could not help him if he did not know what was wrong.

Kanan opened the door to the office, and the secretary recognized him.

"Ah, yes. Mr. Morgan. Go on in." Kanan was thrown off by being addressed as that, but continued on. He opened the door to the office, and there sat Sabine. Kanan felt relieved to see she was okay, but he noticed that Ezra was not with her. He looked up at the principal, who motioned him to sit down. And he did not look happy.

Time to put on a show.

* * *

Ezra froze and immediately crouched down. Thoughts raced to his mind. Had they been caught? Did they know that they were rebels? Were they going to be arrested and tortured?

Pressing away his fearful thoughts, Ezra made his way over to the slightly ajar door and peeked through. He heard the principle scolding Sabine, and he watched Sabine slowly slide the disk in between two boxes.

Leave it to Sabine to think of a way out.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Ezra quickly ran up to the place where Sabine had been standing, and took the data disk. He was relieved that Sabine had done so; if the principal had found it in her hands, it could have gone a lot worse.

He shoved the disk into his pocket with the papers. As quickly as he dared, he raced up the stairs as they creaked beneath his weight, and cracked the door open as quietly as possible. Ezra had no idea when the principle would be back, or if anyone else had seen them enter. How had the principal sneaked by them? The stairs were too loud; they would have heard him coming. Something did not feel right to him. It just did not add up.

He stuck his head out, checking down the hallway, before opening the door all the way. But that was when the feeling came back.

Ezra stiffened. This time it felt more intense. Realization struck as Ezra whipped around to see what his feeling was trying to warn him against.

But it was too late.

* * *

After what seemed like hours, Kanan and Sabine were finally on their way back to the Ghost. The loyalist had droned on and on about 'teaching kids respect' and 'keeping out of other's business'. Sabine fell asleep at one point, but Kanan was thankful that she did not snore like one of their other crew members.

They reached the ship, too tired to make conversation, but when Hera, Zeb and chopper were waiting for their return, they knew something was wrong.

Before Kanan or Sabine could get a word in edgewise, Hera had begun talking.

"Where have you _been_?" Hera crossed her arms, looking angrily upon the two of them. Kanan sighed, knowing that he was going to have to explain.

"The principal would not stop talking. I didn't think it would take that long."

"Yes, and I'm glad for that, but how long did one simple meeting take?"

"I told you, he was a loyalist. He would not stop talking about how great the Empire was."

"So you just sat there? You could have walked out. It's not like we're going to be going back to the school."

Kanan started to protest, but then stopped. He sighed in defeat. He looked over at Zeb, who handed a few credits to Sabine. Kanan was confused, but then quickly drew conclusions.

"Did you just bet on us?" He asked, and Sabine and Zeb looked startled at the question. Looking at each other, then back at Kanan, they replied in unison.

"Yes."

"Honestly, I don't even know why I still bet on him." Zeb said, continuing the conversation with just Sabine. "He's always losing."

"I know; it's making me rich." She replied.

Kanan shook his head, and was about to tell them how they were not helping, when Hera stopped him.

"Kanan, where's Ezra?" This froze the whole crew in their tracks, and all at once they began talking.

"Wait, you mean he's not with you?"

"What!?"

"I thought he was with you!"

"What do you mean, 'he's not with you'?"

"He was right behind me!"

The voices grew louder, and Zeb was the only one who had not spoken up, and he was getting frustrated. Chopper's frantic chirping at the crew did not help matters either.

"STOP!" Zeb's voice echoed over the crew, who all turned to look at him. "Will someone please explain what happened?" He looked at Hera and Kanan, but they looked at Sabine.

With all eyes on her, she started speaking.

"We had the plans, but as we were getting out the principal caught me. Ezra was still in the room that we came from. I hid the disk and I was brought upstairs, but no one else was with him."

"Then what happened to him?" All five crew members were quiet. In each of their minds a hundred possible scenarios played through, all of them ending badly. After a few moments, it was Kanan who spoke up.

"Well, looks like we're going back to school."

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	8. Chapter 8

Hello! I hope you like this chapter!

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**Chapter 8 -Keys**

Kanan led the way to the school, avoiding any Stromtroopers wandering the streets of Lothal. They sneaked around the building towards the back, where they could slip in undetected.

Sabine, Zeb and Kanan entered through the window into the dark school. Once inside, Sabine took the lead, walking down the moonlit hallways of the school. Kanan glanced around, thinking about Ezra. The kid could get himself into a lot of trouble, and he was worried. After all, Ezra was still a kid, and he had been forced to grow up too fast. They approached the basement door, and Sabine turned the knob.

But it was locked.

"What? It was open when we came earlier. Something's wrong." Sabine looked up at Kanan, but he could not read the look on her face; but he could tell from the sound of her voice that she was worried.

"I'll take care of this," Zeb said, walking up to the door as he pulled out his Bo-Rifle.

"No, Zeb," Kanan said, and Zeb stopped. "We don't want to cause any damage, or else it will draw unwanted attention to the basement. We need the key." Zeb put away his weapon, understanding Kanan's point, but disappointed that he did not get to blow up the lock.

"I think I know a way to find the key, and find a clue to Ezra's whereabouts." Sabine pointed upwards behind Kanan, who turned around to see what she pointed at. In the corner of the hallway, a security camera turned back and forth, a red blinking light on the top.

"Sabine," Kanan said, turning back to face the crew. "Lead the way."

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Fortunately for the rebel crew, the door to the office was unlocked. Sabine, Zeb and Kanan walked in, looking for keys and possibly a video feed. Kanan walked into the principal's office, and began rooting through the drawers. He opened the bottom one and found a metal ring with numerous keys attached. Kanan closed the drawer, hoping that somewhere on the ring was the key they needed.

"Kanan, you might want to see this." Kanan walked out of the office and saw Sabine and Zeb standing at the secretary's desk, a holoscreen turned on. He came closer and saw that it was the video camera that they saw earlier. Sabine clicked play.

On the screen, Kanan saw the basement door open, and Ezra emerged. He quickly glanced around, looking if the coast was clear. He opened the door all the way and relaxed. But it only lasted for a brief moment. Kanan saw Ezra tense. He stiffened his back and stood up straight. Something was wrong. Ezra whipped his head around, and looked back into the basement, when abruptly he fell onto the ground, and he desperately tried to stop some force from pulling him back into the basement.

Ezra's face full of fear would forever be implanted into Kanan's memories.

Ezra was easily overpowered by whatever was pulling him down, despite his attempts to stop it. Ezra, having nothing to grab on to, clawed at the tiled floor; which was no use. Ezra disappeared from view. Moments later, the door closed by itself.

Sabine stopped the video feed, and the crew was silent. Unexpectedly, it was Zeb who broke the silence.

"What…what happened?" Two heads turned to look at Kanan.

"I…I don't know."

They made their way back to the basement door in silence, still concerned for their youngest member of their crew. Kanan walked up to the door and slid the first key on the ring into the door lock. He heard Sabine sigh behind him.

"What?" He asked, looking up at her in confusion.

"That's not going to fit."

"And how do you know?" Kanan asked.

"That's the complete opposite model of the one the lock needs." Sabine said in a tone as if it was common knowledge. "Here, I'll show you." Kanan gave the keys to Sabine, who crouched down in front of the door and searched through the keys efficiently, until stopping at one. "See this one? And all these different ridges? That's the type it needs." Sabine placed the key into the lock, and turned it.

The click echoed through the dark hallway.

Sabine stood up and opened the door, and a gust of wind blew at the crew members. But Kanan knew it was more than that; it was the presence of the dark side.

"Stay close," He said, not wanting to tell them about the feeling. Kanan went first down the basement stairs, and the creaking noise seemed louder in the silence.

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Zeb entered last, closing the door behind them, locking them in the basement. He walked down the stairs, carefully hoping the creaking was not too much noise. He looked down at his bare feet. He had felt something rough on the stair he was standing on. Shifting his foot to the side, he was surprised that his feeing had been right.

"Kanan," he whispered, and the Jedi looked back, as did Sabine. He pointed to his feet, and Sabine crouched down to get a better look.

"There's carving in the stairs, as if-" Sabine said, but stopped herself. She stood back up and faced Kanan. "As if someone was clawing at it."

Zeb took this information in, and watched as Kanan did the same. They reached the bottom of the stairs and spread out. Zeb went to the back wall, where he saw a discolored part of the wall. Zeb walked over, and the rancid stench hit his nose. He immediately recognized it.

"Kanan?" Zeb whispered as loud as he dared, and he walked over. Zeb pointed to the stain on the wall, and Kanan walked up to it, running his finger through it. He looked up at Zeb, who's grim face confirmed Kanan's suspicions.

They needed to find Ezra.

"It's not here." Sabine showed up behind Zeb, her helmet masking her face. "The data card is gone."

"So the kid musta' taken it."

"Yeah, but where is he now?" Kanan turned to Sabine. "Where did you first find the data card?" Without another word, Sabine turned back into the rows of files, the red light giving off an uncanny glow.

Sabine led them to a room in the back, and she slowly pushed open the door. Inside a desk sat in the middle, and filing cabinets were scattered all around. Zeb, Sabine and Kanan spread out, in hopes of finding the youngest member of their crew. And hopefully soon.

Zeb walked around the perimeter, not really sure of what he was looking for. He walked by a cabinet with the letter 'X' marked on it, and stiffened. Something was not right. He turned to face the cabinet, and saw that it was slightly pushed to the side. Listening, Zeb could hear a whisper of wind coming from this section of the wall.

"There's something wrong here." Sabine and Kanan came over to where Zeb stood, and he continued speaking. "I can hear the wind. There's another room."

"Ezra was checking this out earlier," Sabine said, excited that they may have found a clue. "He said he noticed a gap in the wall or something." Zeb and Sabine looked up at Kanan, who had already closed his eyes and outstretched his hand. Kanan opened his eyes and flicked his wrist, and the wall resisted, before sliding down into the floor, exposing a hidden room.

The crew members looked in, and their youngest member looked back at them, with a face filled with fear.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	9. Chapter 9

Hello! Can I just say that the season one finale was amazing! I was shaking the whole time! Did you guys like it? Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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**Chapter 9 – Click**

Ezra stiffened. This time it felt more intense. Realization struck as Ezra whipped around to see what his feeling was trying to warn him against.

But it was too late.

Bright yellow eyes shone through the darkness; belonging to the one person he did not expect to see. Roth stood behind him, his face showing no emotions. He grabbed onto Ezra's ankle and tugged, sending him flat onto his stomach. Roth began dragging him down the stairs, and Ezra, feeling powerless, began to claw at the ground. If he had not been so afraid, he might have been able to do something. But he was panicking, throwing every rational thought out the window. He tried to grip onto the wooden stairs, despite the fact that his fingertips and nails had started to bleed.

Time had slowed for Ezra. Every ticking second felt like a decade as he frantically kicked and clawed. Eventually the stairs ended, and Ezra was somehow thrown against the back wall. Too disoriented to notice how he got there, he did notice that he was suspended against the wall, but no one was touching him. He tried to move, but there was a force pushing him into the brick wall, a force that he could not overpower.

He looked up helplessly as Roth stood before him, hand outstretched, yellow eyes glowing. He walked closer, taking out a small metallic object from his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Ezra again attempted to move, but he was still suspended by the force. _The force._ Ezra mentally face palmed for not realizing it earlier. Kanan would have had his head. "You can't use the force – and you don't have yellow eyes." Realization dawned on the frightened teen. "You- you're a Sith!"

Now Roth was close enough to Ezra to take the knife he held in his other hand and slice Ezra's cheek with one harsh swipe. Ezra winced at the sudden pain, and the blood began dripping down his face and onto the wall.

"Why are you doing this?" Ezra forced himself to speak despite the small burning on his cheek.

"It's nothing personal, my boy." Ezra looked up, surprised that the voice did not come from Roth. The principal stood proudly at the bottom of the stairs. He took a step towards Ezra, inspecting him. "You see, our school does not tolerate _force users_."

Ezra froze and a sickening feeling washed over him. They had known. They had known that Ezra was a Jedi all along. When Ezra did not respond, the man continued talking.

"Yes, we knew, Dev Morgan. That's why our friend Roth here was assigned to you." Ezra's eyes widened as he looked at Roth, who continued to use the force to suspend him against the wall. His face remained indifferent. "Put him in the back."

Ezra was dropped to the floor, and before he could gasp in surprise, he was already being dragged by the arms across the filthy floor. Ezra was still in a haze of confusion. They had known he was a Jedi, but why did they not kill him on the spot? A new fear rushed through his mind. What had they done with Sabine?

"Where is she?" Ezra demanded as he was dragged along.

"Who? Oh, your sister?" The principal said as he walked behind. "I would be more worried about you. But if you must know, you will disappear off the face of Lothal, and no one will hear or see you again." His tone was relaxed, contrasted with Ezra's panicking voice.

Ezra was about to respond, but no words came. Would he really disappear? Would the crew ever find him? Ezra now felt remorse for how he acted back on the ship. Was the last thing that said to Hera 'Go away'? Was the last thing he had done to Zeb was make him mad? Was the last thing he had done to his master, the person he was the closest to, shut him out?

The dragging had stopped, jolting Ezra from his thoughts. He was slammed onto a metal table, the cold seeping through his thin white school shirt. He could feel someone restricting his arms and legs with a rough band. The wind was knocked out of him from being slammed onto the table, rendering him unable to resist.

"In fact, young boy, I'm surprised by all of this. We have not had a force user incident in about…hmm, eight years now." Ezra's heart froze. "Unfortunately, he was able to get away from our friend here. But I promise that you will not be as fortunate." Ezra's eyes turned to Roth, who had finished bounding his ankles. He stood with his arms at his side, back straight and no emotions.

"What…_is_ he?" Ezra had never seen such a behavior before. It was as if Roth was an empty shell; droids had more emotions that him.

"Oh, you mean our friend Roth?" The principal walked over to where he stood, and looked at him admiringly. "He is an experiment that has proved most successful." The man looked back at Ezra with a sickening grin on his face.

Ezra was shocked. "What did you do to him?"

"We made him into a soldier," the man said in a defensive tone. "He will soon be used to hunt young force users in schools all across the Galaxy; bullying them to make them emotionally insecure, and then using that fear to kill them!"

The principal relaxed a bit, having lost control with his anger. "And he will do the same with you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important issues to deal with." The principal walked out of a doorway, which Ezra realized led into the office from before. The wall slid up from the ground and locked in place with a sickening clink.

Ezra's head was whipped to the other side, and Roth stood over him, his hand still grasping a chunk of his hair.

"Pathetic." He said, picking up Ezra's head ad slamming it onto the metal surface. He let go, and Ezra's mind swarmed, unable to focus. His vision blurred, but not enough to see Roth holding something over his head. Ezra could taste the cloth fabric covering his mouth, as it tightened around the back of his head.

"I'll be back for you." He heard, and shaking off his dizziness, he realized that he was alone. Taking in his surroundings, he saw a single light fixture hanging over his head. He looked around, but he could not see the walls through the darkness. Ezra knew this was on purpose, but he was still afraid. He felt alone and afraid.

His sense of time had gone. He had no clue how long he had been lying there. For all he knew it could have been hours. Ezra could feel his blood drying on his cheek, and he could still feel the weight of the data card. Thankfully, they had not been smart enough to check his pockets. The most troubling part was that Roth had not returned. Ezra was afraid. He could be in the room, watching and waiting for him to break down, or he could be right above him, sharpening his knife.

With nothing else to do, Ezra's fingers itched, wanting to do something, or anything. His mind began to wander.

_'And he will do the same with you.'_

The words penetrated Ezra's mind as they repeated over and over. They were going to change him into what Roth was; a bully. A bully who harasses students to join the dark side. How was that possible? And, if somehow it was true, did that mean that Roth was once…well, normal?

He heard a click. It was the first noise he had heard in however long he had been alone, and his head whipped to the right side of the room, where the door was located. He saw it retracting down into the floor, and he was afraid of seeing who had opened it.

But as he took in the three figures that stood before him, relief washed through him.

But his fear still lingered.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	10. Chapter 10

Hello! I hope you like this chapter!

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**Chapter 10 - Target**

Kanan saw Ezra's fear.

As soon as they had locked eyes, Ezra had attempted to talk through his gag. He started to try and free himself by thrashing around, trying desperately to be released.

"Ezra, it's okay. We're here," Kanan comforted as he removed the fabric restricting Ezra's voice. When he did, the crew could finally make out what he was saying.

"He's coming. Kanan, he's coming." Ezra continued to struggle, making it difficult for Sabine and Zeb to untie him.

"Ezra…Ezra!" Kanan said, trying to get the boy's attention. "Who's coming?" Ezra looked at him with fear. Kanan glanced back at Zeb and Sabine, who had untied Ezra's right arm and leg, and were currently working on his left leg, which seemed to put up some resistance. Ezra, using his now free right hand, grabbed Kanan's shoulder. His grip was tight with fear.

"He's coming. He's coming." Kanan was transfixed by how Ezra was acting – completely paranoid. He was so surprised that he stopped trying to untie his left hand, staring at Ezra. A voice broke them from his thoughts.

"That would be me."

Kanan looked up, recognizing the figure that stood in the doorway.

Roth, his yellow eyes glowing bright, took a few steps closer. And with every step, Ezra attempted to slide away. Sabine and Zeb drew their weapons, but with a flick of his wrist, they were tossed aside like rag dolls, falling in to the darkness surrounding the room. Ezra began to shake before him. The boy took another step towards Kanan, and threw out his hand.

Kanan felt the world blur around him as he was force pushed away from Ezra. His back hit a stone wall, and he felt his chest tighten. Gasping for air, he fell onto his hands and knees, trying to calm himself.

A loud _thud_ made Kanan snap his vision towards Ezra. He was now sitting on the ground by the metal platform, tugging at the rope that still held his left arm, desperately trying to free himself.

But it was not working.

Kanan stood, ignoring the tightness still surrounding his chest, and began to rush towards Ezra. His vision could only see him struggling, ignoring all outside distractions. But this also made it easy for Kanan to miss what was happening around him. Before he could appear in the circle of light in the center of the room, Zeb sprung from the shadows, attacking Roth head on. But Roth, with a bare expression, sidestepped out of the Lasat's grasp. Again, Roth extended his hand and Zeb flew from view.

However, Zeb's failed attempt allowed Kanan to advance towards Roth without his knowing. Kanan stepped into the light and, using reaching onto the familiar feeling, pushed Roth into the wall.

The kid was not the only one who could use the force.

Ignoring the questions that arose in Kanan's mind about _how_ and _why_, he held Roth against the wall.

"Zeb! Sabine!" Kanan shouted, hoping that one of them was in ear shot.

"Kanan!" His head whipped to the side, seeing a change in the lighting of the room. He that saw Sabine had untied Ezra, who was rubbing his wrists. He followed the teen's gaze to the side of the room where a light was shining through the darkness of the room. Zeb stood before it, his face shadowed by the light from behind.

Kanan turned back to the bully, who continued to stare at him with his yellow eyes. His face showed indifference on his face, but his eyes shone bright with determination. Kanan focused his strength, and forced pushed Roth in the opposite direction. Kanan pivoted and ran towards the door, hoping that Roth had not recovered yet. The floor blurred beneath Kanan's feet with each wide step. His ponytail wavered with the wind as it flew at him. He headed into the light and twisted his feet to the side to slow his momentum. He slid to a stop as Zeb slammed the door.

As the crew caught their breath, they slowly turned their heads and realized what was in the room with them.

* * *

Ezra's body was leaned against the wall as he tried to steady his breathing. He was going to be okay. The crew had saved him. He would not become a dark force user.

But they were not home free yet.

He looked up and noticed the décor of the room they were in. It was long and narrow, with the walls lines with test tubes and lab stations. Unknown liquids flowed through tubes and beakers as others sat on the shelves lining the wall. The lights hung in a straight line, poorly illuminating the room. At the back wall, a large bacta tank stood. It was filled with an electric yellow color, still flowing in the container. The crew silently walked up to the bacta tank, all drawn in by its mysteriousness. Ezra continued to stare at it, as he thought about what the principal had said earlier.

_"We made him into a soldier."_

He had been wrong. Roth was not a soldier; he was lab rat. Gulping, Ezra was glad that his friends had saved him when they did. He feared that if they had come any later, they would be looking at him through the glass.

He heard the drum of Sabine's fingers on the data pad that was on the platform that supported the bacta tank.

"It says here something about file 'X'?" Sabine said, and Ezra froze.

"What does it say?" Zeb asked, leaning forward.

"It's an experiment funded by the Empire. It takes force sensitive kids and injects them with this liquid called _force propagation_. The substance is able to increase the midi-chlorian amount, but at the same time, it corrupts the host."

"What does that mean?" Ezra asked, confused by the larger vocabulary. He looked at Kanan, whose face had gone stone cold as he spoke.

"It means…it turns them to the dark side." The crew went silence, letting it sink it. Slowly, three heads turned towards Ezra.

"They didn't inject me; if that's what you're wondering," Ezra defended. Sabine and Zeb turned back to the screen, but Kanan remained staring at his padawan. Ezra avoided eye contact, nervous about Kanan's inspection of him.

"Wait, it says here that whoever injects the substance into the host is able to control their actions. Is that what happened to that kid?" Sabine asked, looking up at Ezra.

But before he could respond, Kanan cut him off.

"Ezra!"

Looking up at Kanan, Ezra saw that he was looking at something behind him. Whipping around, he came face to face with Roth, needle only centimeters away from his face. Ezra's reflexes kicked in, making him flinch out of the way. The needle ran through the space where Ezra stood only seconds ago. But the sudden action threw Ezra off balance, making him land on the cold floor. He scooted away as Roth recovered from the jab.

But before Roth could take another step towards Ezra, he was suddenly thrown against the wall, the needle dropping from his hand. Ezra looked over and saw Kanan, his hand outstretched, with a concentrated look on his face. Ezra continued to back away little by little, feeling unsafe.

He was a target.

And by the look of things, he was an important one.

Kanan took a step towards the pinned-to-the-wall Roth, whose death stare made Ezra shiver.

"What are you planning?" Kanan asked, his voice filled with anger. Ezra looked up at Roth waiting for his response.

"We were waiting for you," Roth said, looking directly at Ezra. "You're stronger in the force than the rest of them." He chuckled. "You wouldn't die like the others." Roth flinched in pain, and Ezra knew why. Kanan was tightening his grip. But before Ezra could speak up, to tell his master that it was alright, to tell him to let it go, his head whipped back in pain.

He was forcefully pulled to his feet, and recognizing that the pain was coming from the back of his head, he realized that someone had grasped his hair at the roots. He let out a gasp of pain, which drew Sabine, Zeb, and Kanan's eyes towards his own. A voice boomed from behind him, no doubt from the person who was holding him.

"I see you did not follow my advice, boy," the principal said, and Ezra could hear his snarl.

Ezra had to think of something fast. He had escaped plenty of scenarios similar to this on the streets, and he knew what to do. He frantically searched around the room, looking for an element that could flip the tables on the principal. There, just within his reach, was a flask filled with some green liquid. It was bubbling and steaming, and it looked perfect. All Ezra needed to do was to snatch it, splash the principal so he would release his grip, and get out of his arm length.

He could do that with his eyes closed.

Ever since he had joined the crew, the term 'went exactly as planned' had been rare. And this was one of those situations where it had followed the trend. Before he could even reach out to take the flask, he was suddenly whipped to the side.

A flash of pain shot through him, and the world blurred around him. Ezra tried to stay away and focus as his master had always told him, but the pain was unbearable. His mind slowly drifted into the darkness.

And the last thing he saw was Kanan's worrisome eyes.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	11. Chapter 11

Hello! Sorry that I have not updated in a while, I've been super busy. Hopefully I will be able to get back on track. I hope you like this chapter!

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**Chapter 11 –Lost**

Kanan felt the darkness inside of him. He knew it was wrong, it was not the Jedi way, but he had let it come. Besides, the Jedi way had died a long time ago.

He stood with his feet planted on the ground, his hand outstretched. He was holding up Roth against the wall, his anger getting the best of him. But every word that he had spoken was a direct threat towards Ezra.

"You wouldn't die like the others."

Kanan tightened his grip on Roth; the threat had hit home. Kanan would not let anyone hurt his padawan. Not if he had a say in it.

_Jedi do not form attachments_

The dead words of his past life ran through his head. Deep down, he wanted to follow them. He truly did. But to do that, to follow the rules of a dead culture, was impossible. If only times had been different, if only destiny had taken another path, maybe he could have been able to follow the code. But now, he knew it was not possible. He protected his crew with his life, willing to give himself up in place of any one of them.

A cry of pain brought Kanan back into the present in a flash. He recognized the source instantly, and his heartbeat had started to race.

Ezra's face was contorted in pain as a large hand whipped his head back by the roots of his hair.

"I see you did not follow my advice, boy." Kanan cringed, remembering the principal's comment on his padawan's hair length. The principal's eyes meet Kanan's. His green eyes shone with fear and anger, contrasting the principals' brown eyes that shone with thrill.

Then, without a moment of hesitation, Ezra was flung into the side of a workstation table. His head hit with a sickening thud, and Kanan swore his heart stopped momentarily. The principal lifted the now unresistant body of his padawan, who looked up at Kanan. He could see the sparks of energy in Ezra's blue eyes fade away.

And a part of Kanan faded away with him.

But not enough.

"Now, Mr. Morgan, if that is your real name, I would prefer not to kill the boy; it would take ages to remove the blood from the floor. But do not think that I won't." The principal smirked, his face all knowing. Kanan released Roth from his force hold, clenching his fists in anger.

"Now, that's better." Roth walked over to the principal, his face showing no emotion. "I would love to get to know all of you better. Please, stay a while." The principal nodded to Roth, who grabbed rope from one of the lab stations and walked behind Kanan. Grabbing his clenched fists, he tied them together tight enough to restrict the blood circulation.

With a shove, Kanan was forced on to his knees. But his eyes never broke from the principal. Next to him, Sabine and Zeb's wrists were bound, and they were forced to the ground next to him. The room was filled with the constant sound of the blood dripping from Ezra's head. The principal then dropped Ezra to the ground, and proceeded to wipe his hands off on his expensive shirt, as if he was disgusted from touching Ezra.

"Roth, if you will," the principal bellowed. Kanan heard shuffling from behind him, but he refused to look back. He kept his eyes on Ezra, hoping that he was still alive. But from the pool of blood that was now forming, his hopes were quickly diminishing. Kanan knew that the principal had underestimated the crew; he had only bounded their hands. That left their legs and the rest of their bodies free to escape.

But it would take time to untie the rope; time that they did not have. Kanan glanced over at Sabine, making eye contact. Sabine, knowing exactly what Kanan was doing, began to fiddle with the ropes. Kanan looked back at Ezra, knowing that Sabine would be able to untie herself. She always had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Kanan looked back up to see Roth handing the principal the needle, filled with the _force propagation_ liquid.

"Don't you touch him," Kanan hissed.

"Sorry, _Mr. Morgan_," the principal said, not even looking at Kanan. "But that is a promise I cannot keep." The principal took the needle and crouched down next to Ezra.

Kanan had to do something, he had to. He would not let anything happen to Ezra. But Sabine was still cutting through the rope with a switchblade, and Kanan knew that she would not finish in time. So that left only one option.

"Wait!" Kanan shouted, drawing the attention of the principal. "Take me instead." Kanan could feel Zeb's eyes on him, but he did not care. Kanan would do anything for his padawan. The principal looked him over and spoke.

"No, that will not be necessary."

He turned back to Ezra, who showed no signs of coming back into consciousness anytime soon.

Kanan's heart was pounding in his chest as his body began to tremble. He needed to do something. If not, his padawan would become . . . a monster.

The principal checked over the shot, and stabbed it into Ezra's left arm. Immediately, Ezra cried out in pain, screaming at the top of his lungs. His body started jerking in pain.

It was too late.

And with the fear of losing his padawan at its peak, the _snap_ of a rope drove him into action. Sabine had gotten out and had drawn her blasters, and fired once at the needle. The sound of shattering glass confirmed that she had hit her target. Kanan rolled on the ground, twisting his body and jumping to his feet.

With the help of the force, the ropes were quickly broken apart from behind his back. The principal had clearly underestimated them greatly, but that was the one thing that Kanan was thankful for. He quickly force pushed the principal and Roth, who were caught off guard by the sudden ambush. But Kanan knew it would not last long. He ran over to his padawan, battered and bloody, lying on the floor. He slid on the floor next to him, ignoring the warm wetness that he felt on his knees, and jerked the now shattered needle out of his padawan's arm.

Ezra's screams stopped abruptly.

Kanan turned Ezra over onto his back, careful to avoid further injuring, and checked for a pulse. And faintly, there was the steady beat of the kid who refused to back down from anything.

He heard grunts around him, but trusted that Sabine and Zeb were able to hold their own, just for a few more moments. He needed to see a sign, _something_ that proved his padawan was still his padawan.

As if on cue, Ezra opened his eyes.

But instead of staring into the electric blue eyes that were always filled with energy and life, he only saw pain reflected in the now yellow eyes.

Kanan had lost everything the day the Empire had come into power. He had lost his master, his friends, his home, his culture.

And now, he had lost his padawan.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	12. Chapter 12

Hello! Sorry it has been taking me so long to update, but hopefully I will be updating more regularly now. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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**Chapter 12 – Bridger**

Sabine knew she had one chance. One shot, one impossible shot. The ropes gave way, unbinding her wrists from behind her back. With the sound of Ezra's scream fueling her adrenaline, her hands shot to her gun. She pulled it out of its holster with ease and leveled it, her eye on the target. Steading it with both hands, she took a deep breath.

She only had one chance. If she missed, Ezra was dead.

She released her breath and fired.

And the sound of breaking glass followed.

The tension poured out of her body. She had done it. She wanted to celebrate her impossible luck, but the fight was not over yet. Kanan had sprung into action, and he was headed straight for Ezra. Sabine reached over to Zeb and untied him. His Bo-Staff ignited, he charged at Roth, who was now recovering from the force push that Kanan had delivered. That meant that Sabine had the principal all to herself. And she would like nothing else but to get revenge for what he did to Ezra.

Sabine sprung up, and sprinting toward the man who was responsible for Ezra's screaming, she drew her other blaster. She saw the man run from the room and into the room they came from. Sabine raced after, and being much stronger than the man, she quickly caught up.

Sabine grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him into the wall.

"Fix him!" she shouted over Ezra's cries of pain. But instead of getting an answer, the man only laughed, earning him a punch in the back of his head.

"Is there an antidote?" Sabine was shaking with fear. There had to be a way to help Ezra. She did not want him to lose his childish eyes and his cocky grin to become a robot slave to the Empire.

"There's no antidote," the man chuckled.

"You're lying," Sabine objected, unsure who she was trying to convince.

"Sorry, little girl. But your friend is as good as-" The principal was unable to finish his sentence for Sabine did not agree with what he was going to say. With a punch, he now laid on the ground, unconscious.

Her fury was boiling over. There had to be a way to save him. If she had not taken so long to untie the ropes, if she had just been a few seconds faster, then none of this would be happening.

It was all her fault.

The guilt overwhelmed her.

But Ezra's screams had stopped. And even though her curiosity tried to lure her to see what had happened, even though she knew what she would see.

She could picture it; Ezra lying on the ground, his body pale and his eyes closed; Kanan kneeling beside him looking just as bad; and Zeb, standing there, looking as if a part of him had died with Ezra. No, she could not go into that room.

But she could not just sit here. She had to do something to keep her mind occupied, or else the image of Ezra would return.

Sabine walked out of the room.

* * *

Zeb loved the sound of his Bo-staff igniting. It was the sound of his culture, his home coming back to life with a static shock. It was a part of him.

He smirked, happy at the knowledge that a fight was coming. And his opponent was a teenage boy – with a strong connection to what Kanan had called the dark side. That gave Zeb the advantage in strength, but also a major drawback. He had never fought a force-wielder. But that was not going to stop him from trying.

Zeb and Roth rushed forward. Zeb swung his Bo-staff, but it only hit air. Roth had avoided it, but barely. Roth was off balance, and unable to strike back. Zeb stabbed his Bo-staff at Roth again, but he was able to sidestep the strike.

And now he had gained his balance.

Zeb saw Roth outstretch his hand, and then nothing. He did no longer feel the floor under his feet but he saw the world rushing around him. His body hit the floor, but its momentum did not stop it. Zeb felt his body skid across the floor, and after what felt like ages, it stopped.

Zeb slowly opened his eyes, shaking off the confusion and soreness. He had expected Roth to be standing over him, but he was not. Turning to his side, panic filled him.

Roth stood behind Kanan, who had Ezra in his arms, with a piece of pipe held over his head, ready to deliver his blow.

"Kanan!"

* * *

Kanan had lost his padawan. As he stared into Ezra's eyes, everything around him froze. He had no thoughts of where Zeb and Sabine were. He had no thoughts of how they were going to get out of the school alive. He could only think of Ezra, and his yellow eyes.

Ezra's eyes suddenly became more awake, blinking and looking around before landing on Kanan. Ezra tilted his head, as if confused by the sight.

"Ezra…" That was all that Kanan was able to say before Ezra's eyes widened.

Ezra's yellow eyes flooded from the edges with the color blue. His face grimaced in pain.

"Ka-" Ezra said. Kanan was too shocked to respond. Ezra closed his eyes, his breath quickening.

"Kanan!" Zeb's voice woke him from his daze, and he immediately sensed what was happening. Kanan whipped his head around, his body still supporting Ezra, to see Roth standing over him. But Roth was not looking at him anymore. He was looking at Ezra.

"Aaaahhh!" Ezra cried, and began lashing out. Ezra wriggled his way out of Kanan's hold and onto the floor. Roth, having shaken off his disbelief, took the pipe and pointed it at Kanan. He lifted Kanan's chin up, and aimed for the throat.

"How is this happening?" Roth threatened.

"How is what happening?" Kanan answered, not understanding what Roth had meant.

"How is he resisting it?" Kanan turned to Ezra, who was still lying on the ground in pain. Ezra was…_resisting_ the chemical? "Tell me! No one had been able to stop its effects. How is he _doing_ it? Tell me!" Roth was shouting at the top of his lungs, anger in his eyes. Kanan knew that he had to think of something, and fast. But despite being able to handle most missions and situations on the fly, for once Kanan did not have an answer.

"I- I don't know."

"Yes you do!" Roth shouted. "Don't lie to me. Bridger escaped once, but he won't escape again."

"What are you talking about?" Kanan asked, completely confused by Roth's words. None of them had blown their over. But if this kid did recognize Ezra, which would mean that he had went to the Academy. And Ezra had never said anything about where he went to school when he was younger. Then again, Ezra did not say a lot of things about his past.

"Oh, did Bridger never tell you?" Roth grinned as he looked at Ezra, who twitched on the floor. "I'm not surprised. His short time at school was not the _best_ time of his life. Not to pat myself on the back, but you could say it was filled with unrestricted pain." Roth grinned, the first sign of emotion he had expressed since Kanan had first seen him. He could not be telling the truth, could he? Ezra would have spoken against the plan, or-

But he did speak against it.

And Kanan had made him go anyway.

"Try _this_ for pain, you bully!" Roth turned around at the sound of Zeb's voice, to see his Bo-Staff shock him in the chest. He twitched and dropped the pipe, and soon fell unconscious. Kanan breathed out, the silence comforting to them both.

"Ka- Kana-" Kanan turned back to Ezra, who lied on the ground, his arm outstretched towards him. Kanan looked at him in the eyes, hoping to see bright blue. But what he saw chilled him to the bone.

The center of Ezra's eyes were blue, but on the ridges were pure yellow. And the yellow was seeping into the center.

"Help…me." Ezra's bicolored eyes rolled into the back of his head, his body finally shot from the pain.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	13. Chapter 13

Hello! So this chapter was challenging for me to write, and I hope it makes sense. If not, just PM me, and I can try to clear up any questions. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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**Chapter 13 - Nothing**

The shot pierced through Ezra's skin, and the pain took over. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. A fever washed over him, making him sweat like he was on Tatooine. But then the fever faded away, and Ezra barely heard the sound of shattering of glass over his pounding heartbeat. He heard it beating in his head, every beat making it harder and harder to focus. He faintly registered that someone had shot the needle that was in his arm; but the damage had already been done.

He suddenly became very cold, as if he was on the planet Hoth, submerged miles under the dense...What was it called again? Ezra could not remember the name of it. He knew that as a child he had always wanted to see it, but living on…the planet he lived on, it rarely happened. What planet did he live on? What planet was he on now?

"Ezra," a voice called. Who was the voice calling to? It could not be him, could it? Confusion set over the padawan as his memory seemed to disappear. Where was he? How had he gotten here? Whose arms was he in?

Something then clicked. It was not a memory that had come to him, and it did not answer any of his questions that he was asking. It was just one name; Kanan. The name repeated itself through his pounding brain. Somehow, the name sounded familiar, and Ezra felt warm again.

Ezra could feel his lips moving, trying to say the word, and failing. Yet he had no control.

He opened his eyes and sucked in much needed air, but he did not find himself in familiar surroundings. He was standing on a platform, somewhere deep in space. Yet he could breathe easier here. He looked down at his body to see he glowed an electric blue. The color comforted him. It reminded him of…something; something that he could not remember.

He did not make much of it; just one of the many things to add to the growing list of lost memories.

He looked back up, only to find him looking back at himself. But the Ezra that stood across from him was glowing yellow. He had his eyes closed and stood, unaware. Ezra walked closer to himself, and poked at his glowing body. His hand went right though his shoulder. Pain shot through the blue glowing Ezra and he with drawled from the yellow glowing Ezra's touch.

But not empty handed.

From touching the yellow Ezra, he got one single image. He saw the man who he identified as Kanan. He was holding him in his arms, his face full of fear and sadness. Was this man sad, because of him? But Kanan was not alone. Another person, someone Ezra did not remember, stood behind him, as shocked as Kanan was.

But that image was gone now, and he no longer felt the warmth that Kanan had provided. Ezra was confused, so very confused. He looked back at the yellow glowing Ezra, who had his eyes opened now.

"Don't do that again, Ezra," the other Ezra said. But he only stared. That was his name, then; Ezra. The pain that he had felt was unbearable, but some deep part of him was sending warning signs. He had felt this feeling before, somewhere, and another word came into his memory; the force. It was something Kanan had said to him, yet it had no meaning to him.

"Who are you?"

"Why, I am you. Only better." The yellow glowing Ezra walked closer. "There is so much pain out there, young Ezra. I can take that all away." The yellow Ezra smirked at him. "All you have to do is _stop fighting._"

Stop fighting. It sounded so appealing, just to give up and into his yellow self. By now, the two different colored Ezra's were right in front of each other.

"_Give up._"

The image of Kanan popped into his mind. Again, he found himself silently calling out to him, hoping somehow he could help.

"Stop doing that!" his yellow-self protested. Ezra saw that he was in pain, grimacing as he had tried to contact Kanan. But the yellow Ezra was trying to stop him.

Knowing what was going to come, Ezra took in a deep breath and shoved his arms through the yellow-glowing Ezra's chest.

"Help me!" he shouted. And he again saw Kanan's worried face.

And again, the pain became unbearable, making him pull his arms out.

But this time, he was not standing on a white platform in space.

This time, there was nothing.

* * *

Kanan's feet pounded against the floor. His breathing was quick, his heart pounding against his chest. He rounded the corner, avoiding the sight of the principal lying unconscious on the floor. He wanted nothing more than to hurt the man who had done this to Ezra, but his padawan had asked him for something. Kanan would find a way to save him.

He could feel Ezra's heartbeat, uneven and weak. But there was a heartbeat. And at the moment, that was all that mattered. Ezra shuddered as they ran through the basement of the school.

"Hold on, Ezra. Just hold on," Kanan said, holding his padawan closer to his chest. He carried Ezra down the rows of files in the dim red light and he almost forgot a very important detail.

"Zeb – where's Sabine?" Kanan turned around, looking at the Lasat, who merely shrugged.

"I'm right here." Sabine came out from behind a shelf, holding a file in her hands. Before Kanan or Zeb could question her, she continued. "Let's go!" Sabine took off ahead of them, bounding up the stairs. Kanan followed, taking three at a time. They reached the top and bulldozed through the door.

And smack into a man.

The janitor was an older man, his dark skin wrinkling, and his black hair thin and wispy with streaks of grey. He was staring at them in confusion. In shock, his mop clattered onto the ground, the noise echoing throughout the empty halls.

"What the-" the man muttered, before his gaze swept to Ezra. He looked up at Kanan, who still stood frozen. They had been caught. And even though the man looked like he would cause no harm, they could not take that risk.

"Wait a minute…," the man said, squinting closer at Ezra. Warning bells rang through Kanan's head. The man abruptly turned and sprinted away. Sabine fired her gun at him, but he had already rounded the corner. Seconds later, an alarm bell blared in the distance.

They were out of time.

Without saying a word, the crew moved as one down the halls. They raced up the stairs, and using the adrenaline that was fueled by the alarm, they took three steps at a time. Kanan could sense Stromtroopers approaching, but they did not know where they were. So as long as they did not run into-

"Hold it right there!"

Well, so much for that approach. They ran by the adjacent hallway that contained the troopers, who had begun sprinting after them. The tiled floor allowed them to run with ease, passing by the lockers and the classroom doors.

"Sabine!" Zeb shouted from behind him. Kanan looked ahead at Sabine, who had not slowed her pace as they neared the end of the hallway. Going at this speed, Sabine would never be able to turn. But she would be able to jump, right through the glass window.

Kanan saw no alternative. Ignoring his aching legs and fiery lungs, he sped up. Zeb's growl of frustration was barely audible over the sound of the trooper's blasters. The red beams whizzed by Kanan, and he could feel the heat radiating from them. Turning his gaze to the troopers, he could see that they had no idea what they were planning.

Shattering glass made Kanan look back, and he saw Sabine's form drop. He held Ezra closer, tucking his legs in and shifting his head so it was resting on Kanan's chest. Hoping that Ezra would be safe, and worried that he would fail to protect him, Kanan jumped. The night air pierced through his lungs, relieving some of the fire. He felt the wind blow his hair, and for a moment, everything was peaceful.

But then he began to fall.

Although it was only a two story drop, it felt longer. The darkness of night made it difficult for Kanan to pinpoint the ground. Clutching onto Ezra so he would not slip from Kanan's grasp, he tried to make sense of where he was. Kanan opened his eyes for a moment, the dry air making it difficult to see, and he saw Sabine lying on the ground. Her colored armor served as his beacon.

Kanan twisted himself around to the best of his ability, and called upon the force, hoping for it to help him land. He shifted his legs to a stance, and suddenly they hit solid ground. The momentum carried the top half of his body forward, causing him to topple over, but Kanan did not let Ezra go. A few seconds later, he heard Zeb land beside him.

"Is everyone okay?" Kanan asked.

"Yeah. That was the most fun I've had in school all week," Sabine said, as she stood up and brushed her armor off.

"Define okay," was the Lasat's gruff response.

Kanan gently touched Ezra's throat. And there, faintly, was a pulse. And as far as he could tell in the dark night, for the most part he was unharmed.

Kanan stood up, his aching body protesting in the process. His arms were tired from carrying his padawan and his legs and lungs burned from the mission. His shoulder felt warm, but he did not take much notice of it. Ezra was his main concern.

Kanan raced back to the Ghost with Sabine and Zeb in tow, the sirens slowly fading away.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	14. Chapter 14

Hello! Sorry about the mix-up earlier. I uploaded the wrong chapter, and then I lost the file for this chapter, so it's been a crazy morning. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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**Chapter 14 - Run**

Hera was usually a very patient person, always calm and collected in the face of danger. But her patience was gone, replaced with frustration. It should not have taken Kanan, Zeb and Sabine this long to rescue Ezra unless something truly awful had happened. And with each passing second, Hera grew more and more worried.

To prevent herself from imagining what could have happened to Ezra, she busied herself with the Ghost. She was messing with wires in the cockpit, trying to increase the range of the ship's transmitters. Her hands were going through the motions, but she remained completely focused. Chopper had picked up on her frustration after she snapped at him earlier, and Chopper had stayed out of Hera's way since.

She looked up for the now one hundredth time, hoping to see the crew. But unlike before, instead of seeing the dark Lothal grasslands empty and bare, minus the occasional Loth-cat, she saw a flash of color and she knew that it could only belong to one person; Sabine.

Hera jumped out of her seat, wanting to rush and meet them at the ramp, but then thought better of it. If it had taken them this long to get back, something had to be wrong. And if something was wrong, which it usually was, Hera was responsible for getting them away from danger.

And that was exactly what she was going to do.

She jumped back into the pilot's seat and began flipping switches that only she knew. Then, after the Ghost was prepared to take off, she gripped the handle bar and waited. She stared at the small lit bulb, desperately waiting for it to change. Finally, the ramp went up, and the light flickered off. Steadying her shaking hands, Hera took off.

* * *

Once she had made it into hyperspace, Hera shot up from her chair. She ran to the door, only for it to open before her. She flinched in surprise.

"Hera," Kanan said, as he stood completely still in the doorway. Despite desperately wanting to know what had happened to make the crew so late, Hera no longer wanted to find out.

"Kanan," she said, and ignoring her fears, continued. "What happened?"

Kanan hesitated for a moment, looking at Hera with his green eyes. They were filled with dread and fear, and Hera knew.

"Oh, no…" Hera's legs suddenly felt like they could no longer support her. If Ezra was dead, so was everything they were trying to protect. He was the heart of this crew, whether they would admit it or not.

"He's alive, but…" Kanan shook his head.

And with that, they ran down the eerily quiet halls of the Ghost, their hearts aching for the youngest member of the crew.

Hera came into the Med-bay, still confused and afraid. She did not know exactly what had happened, but with the way Kanan was acting, it must have been bad. She opened the door, and a chill raced through her body. Shaking it off, she looked through the doorway.

But her feet stayed rooted to the ground as she looked at Ezra's yellow eyes.

* * *

Kanan was tired.

Ezra was still unconscious, lying on the mad-bay counter. Zeb stood in the farthest corner, not saying a word. Sabine stood in the opposite corner, closest to Ezra. She shook slightly, but her helmet covered her face, making it difficult for Kanan to know if she was angry or afraid.

Kanan sat in a chair, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands rubbing his aching head. Roth's words echoed through his mind.

_"How is he resisting it?"_

_"Bridger escaped once, but he won't escape again"_

Something happened to Ezra in his past regarding the school. Kanan glanced over at his padawan, his small body lying still on the counter. Ezra looked much younger now that he was asleep. He looked much too young to be caught up in this mess. Yet he was, and there was no changing that.

Kanan should have known. He always should have known. The past always has a funny way of catching up. Kanan knew this from experience, and it seemed that Ezra did too.

He had patched his padawan up the best he could; a few scratches and rope burns were fairly simple. But Kanan did not know the state of Ezra's mind. It seemed like there was a fight between good and evil inside of him, and evil had the advantage.

"We need to get Hera," Kanan said to Sabine and Zeb. But neither of them made an effort to move. With a sigh, Kanan stood up and walked to the doorway. The door slid open, but before he left into the dark hallway, Kanan looked back at his padawan as a thought occurred to him.

Ezra could die.

After all the impossible missions and all the near death escapes, it had seemed like dying was avoiding them. And they were all grateful. But now, with Ezra on the verge, stuck in some mental battle, death might be stopping by.

Kanan walked out of the door, startled by his own thoughts.

No, no. Ezra would not die.

Ezra connected him to his forgotten past, making him remember the better years of his life. Ezra had brought him joy and taught him more lessens than he even knew.

No, Kanan refused what was happening. Despite the yellow eyes, Kanan knew that he was still Ezra.

And he was not going to give up on him. There was always a cure, always an answer. And Kanan would stop at nothing to find it.

He walked into the cockpit, and told Hera enough for her to understand. They walked back together, Kanan quieting the thoughts that lurked up from behind, telling him that Ezra was as good as dead. He knew this was not true.

Hera reached out to open the door, when Kanan felt something through the force; a warning. It told him to run, to run far away and never look back.

Someone's voice echoed through his mind, screaming for him to run, to take Hera and run.

Confused, Kanan did not stop Hera from opening the door. But as soon as it did, the shouts subsided, and he was met with the yellow eyes of his padawan.

And he knew the warning had come not from the Ezra that stood before him, but the Ezra that was buried deep inside.

* * *

Ezra's eyes shot open, he sat himself up, and he looked at Zeb.

But that was not the real him. The real Ezra just sat, watching him through his own eyes, having no control. But he had no idea how to take over. He could only watch as the medical shelves above Zeb crashed onto him. He looked over to where Sabine was, but she was no longer there. The doors slid shut behind her.

Ezra stood, stretching his back. He could feel a dull throb in his shoulder, but dark Ezra felt it more. Ezra could feel his dark-self and what he was thinking. He was confused by the pain. Instantly, a memory popped into his mind; the memory of how he got the scar that runs across his shoulder blade.

His dark-self smiled at the pain.

But a presence snapped him out of his thoughts, and Ezra was glad that the memory faded away. It was painful enough to live through once. The presence was the once he had felt earlier, Kanan. He was nearby, he was close. Ezra needed to warn him.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, he shouted and shouted at Kanan. He did not remember what he said, but he yelled at him until he could not anymore.

But Kanan did not listen to his warnings. The door slid open.

He saw Kanan and Hera looking at him in horror. He saw them glance to an unconscious Zeb. The looks of horror in their eyes were mixed with worry.

He could feel his own lips moving.

"Hello, there. Glad you could join the party." He smirked.

"Leave him alone," Kanan said with his voice strong and firm.

"Why, _Kanan_, right?" He scoffed. "I know what Ezra _really_ thinks of you." He moved forward to a frozen Kanan.

Ezra could feel someone poking around in his mind, searching for the dark. But Ezra was confused. What were they searching for?

But whatever it was, they found it.

Ezra saw Kanan, yelling and shouting at him. He recognized it to be when he had fallen of the Ghost, and Kanan had used the force to save him. They were both frustrated at each other, but that was pretty typical. Ezra was confused why his dark-self would use this memory to-

"Why, Ezra here thinks you don't want him." No. "He thinks that you'll get so upset that you'll kill him. And hey, I wouldn't blame you. It can be frustrating, taking on an apprentice who has killed before." _No._ Ezra saw the confusion, the hurt in Kanan's eyes.

But it was not true. At least, not all of it.

"Oh, didn't you know?" He felt himself smile.

"What are you?" Hera asked. Her voice was stone cold.

"Why, can't you tell? I'm Ezra." He gestured to himself. "Just little Ezzy."

The crew remained silent, his dark-self getting the center stage. But all the things he had said, they weren't _true_. Didn't they know that? They had to, they were-

"Shut up!" He shouted, and Ezra had no doubt that it was directed at him. He saw Kanan and Hera exchange a worried glance. He took in a deep breath.

"Ezra, you can fight him." Kanan looked right at his eyes, but his view was quickly taken away. "I know you're in there."

"Shut up! He's gone by now!" His dark-self was slipping, allowing Ezra to slowly seep in. It was small, but it was there. But before he could act, Ezra was thrown back. He heard himself laugh, helpless once more.

"He won't come. There's so much…_fear_ to keep him busy." He took a step forward, but he was not in control. "There are even some places where _I_ would not dare to go. I'm surprised he is resisting, even now. He hates you all." He spit the words at his crew.

Kanan was floating above the ground, and he was thrown into a glass cabinet. He heard the glass shattering, and the thump of a body hitting the ground. His gaze turned back to Hera, who stood there in shock.

"Ezra, you have to fight it!" But Ezra did not know how. And his dark-self knew.

"It's too bad that he doesn't know how to." And with a flick of his wrist, Hera was thrown against the wall. Yet even as her breath ran out, she continued speaking.

"Ezra, fight it. You're stronger than him. You have to _fight_."

The door slid open, and in shock, his dark-self dropped Hera. She gasped for breath as Kanan, and finally Zeb were waking up. But in the doorway, Sabine stood with a vile filled with bright blue liquid. And suddenly, Ezra felt afraid. But he was not afraid, no, it was his dark-self who was afraid.

"How did you- Where did you-" he stuttered.

"Yeah, I thought so," Sabine said, and she splashed the vile onto him. Instantly, relief swept through him. But his thoughts were drained by his own scream.

And with a gasp, he was in control. Ezra felt his hands on the cool tile floor, and his lungs ached from the screams. His head throbbed, his throat burned. But he could feel. He turned his head up, and saw Hera and Sabine looking back at him. And if he turned his head to the right, Kanan was looking at him too.

He controlled his breathing, he controlled his thoughts.

"Ezra?" Kanan asked, and Ezra turned towards him, and nodded.

He was free! Finally, free from the prison inside his own mind, the-

_I will be back._

No, no. Ezra started breathing faster. He could feel his dark-self, his presence was indisputable. He was not free. He was still here. There was no way to get rid of his darkness.

"Are you alright?" He looked at Hera, and then back at the floor. He shook his head. Kanan had come closer to him, but before he could speak, Ezra turned to him.

There was only one way to get rid of his inner demon.

"Kill me."

The world went black.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	15. Chapter 15

Hello! Sorry this chapter is pretty short, but I still wanted to update it. I hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter 15 – Remedy**

"Kill me." Ezra's blue eyes looked right at his own. They were tearing up, but they were sincere. Ezra wanted Kanan to kill him, to end the pain he was in. His bright blue eyes rolled back into his head, and his body slumped to the ground. Kanan was frozen in fear by the words spoken by his padawan. He gulped, the pit in his stomach brewing. The rest of the crew remained silent, staring at the young padawan who wanted to be killed. Kanan shook his head.

"No." He took a deep breath.

"Kanan?" He looked up at Sabine, who had taken a step towards him. "You know that, I'm not one hundred percent sure that it worked, right?"

Kanan pulled himself off the ground, his arms shaking. He cleared his throat.

"What…what was that, anyway? The…the liquid thing." Kanan did not care that his voice was wavering, his body was trembling, or that he knew the others saw it as well.

"Um…" Sabine said, looking at the vile.

"Sabine, tell me you knew what was _in_ that before you threw it at Ezra," Hera said. Even now, her mothering tone shone through the fear that was in her eyes.

"Of course I knew what was in it," Sabine defended. "I just didn't know whether it would work or not."

"An' what is that supposed to mean?" asked Zeb.

"It means that I don't know what it did to Ezra. It seems like it worked, at least for now."

"Care to explain in a little more detail?" Kanan said. His voice had grown more steady. Sabine sighed.

"Well, after I knocked out the principal, I went searching through the filing cabinets looking for a cure. It seemed like the Empire had been researching this for years now, looking for a way to turn people to the dark side with a chemical formula."

Kanan glanced at Hera, who looked confused.

"It turned out the principal was the one who ran the experiments," Kanan explained.

"And they had a lab rat. That kid, uh what's-his-name…," Zeb said, trying to remember.

"Roth, I believe." Kanan turned back to Hera. "The, uh, formula worked on him, and he recruited the kids who were force sensitive. Including Ezra."

"And it seemed like this was his second time doin' it," Zeb pointed out.

"Yeah, Roth mentioned that," Kanan sighed. The guilt came back in full swing, stabbing him through the heart. Ezra seemed wrapped up in just about everything on Lothal.

"Huh." Sabine walked over to Ezra and gently turned him onto his back. He still lied on the floor, and he was still deep in unconsciousness. Sabine stood up from her crouch and spoke. "I knew it. He was distracting me."

"Sabine, what are you talking about?" Kanan crouched down and looked to where Sabine was pointing. In Ezra's pocket a slight bulge was visible.

"I think it's a file," Sabine said, as Kanan carefully reached into his pocket. There were papers there for sure, but a brush of something metal against his fingertips struck his interest. Kanan reached a bit deeper and slowly pulled out the object.

"Karabast, the kid still got it."

In Kanan's hand was the data card, the whole reason that Ezra had turned into some type of a sith. Kanan shivered slightly at the word. No, his padawan was not a sith. Not if he had anything to do about it.

"That's not our main concern anymore," Hera said. "We'll need to find the children, but we can't do that down one member. We focus on Ezra first. Technically, he is still a child."

"Yeah, he is," Kanan realized. "I guess sometimes we forget that."

"It's hard not to forget. He acts twice his age. Most of the time, anyway." The crew nodded at Sabine's comment.

But that was the price he had to pay to survive. He had grown up too fast, and Kanan would give anything to help him. But if there was one thing Kanan had learned from over the years, it was that there was no changing the past. Whether you want to help your friends, or whether you wanted to save your whole culture; there is no way to help everyone.

"Wait, how did you make the substance then?" Hera turned towards Sabine as she asked.

"Well, the file I took contained a cure recipe."

"You can make remedies?" Zeb asked, and Sabine shrugged.

"I dabble."

A slight moan turned all their attention to their youngest member. His head turned toward the left, and Kanan shifted closer on the ground. But Zeb and Sabine took a slight step back, as Hera stayed rooted to the spot.

"Ezra?" Kanan asked, hoping that blue eyes would stare up at him. Ezra shifted onto his side, and attempted to pull himself off the ground. "Easy there, Ezra. Hey, look at me."

Ezra looked up, his eyes shining their usual electric blue. Kanan released the breath he was holding as his padawan looked around in confusion. The sith was no longer there.

"Ezra?" Kanan questioned again, but Ezra did not respond. He continued to try and push himself up, and continued to fail, until Kanan said his name once more. Ezra turned to him, attempting to focus.

"Kanan?" he asked, his voice barely at a whisper. Kanan nodded in response. In the silence of the room Ezra's breathing could be heard as it evened out.

"Just, take it easy." Kanan took Ezra's shoulders and helped him straighten up. He leaned his padawan against the wall, and when Ezra tried to stand up, Kanan would gently push him back.

"Kanan?" Ezra asked, looking at him. "Wha…what happened?"

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	16. Chapter 16

Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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**Chapter 16 – Stranger**

Ezra heard people talking over him. Some voices came from close by, while others came from further away. He moaned as the pain came rushing at him. His forehead was surging with pain, and he could not focus. He could faintly hear someone calling his name, but he was unable to find the words to respond. He did not know where he was, the only thing he could see was the floor and the tilting room.

"Hey. Look at me." Recognizing Kanan's voice, Ezra turned his head towards him. Relief filled his master's eyes, but he could not remember why. He glanced around and saw that the whole crew was watching him.

Feeling uncomfortable with all the attention, he tried to get up. But he was unable to do so; a soft touch eased him back against a wall.

"Kanan?" Ezra asked, and paused, trying to gather his words. "Wha…what happened?"

Kanan shifted himself closer, but he remained in a crouch.

"Do you not remember?" Ezra looked around at the blurry faces of the crew. He opened his mouth to respond, but he was unable to stop the gasp of pain from escaping.

"Kanan, something's wrong." Ezra saw Hera crouch down next to him and begin to look him over. "Ezra, what hurts?"

Ezra wanted to respond, but a chilling voice sent his spine crawling and his mouth shut.

_Get up._

Ezra shot up. He stumbled as he tried to follow his orders, but he was unable to do so. Someone else had told him to do this, and he followed without question. He felt someone's arms catch him before he hit the ground, but the world was blurring quickly. He tried to focus, but he just wanted to give in.

_They're not your friends_.

Ezra looked up at the people who surrounded him. Instead of seeing familiar faces, he only saw strangers. No, this could not be happening. He was on the Ghost, with the crew. He was in Kanan's arms. But when he turned to look at Kanan, who was saying words that Ezra could not make out, he was suddenly a stranger.

Ezra was afraid. What was happening to him? Who were these people? He struggled to get out of the man's grasp, and flinched at the green twi'lek's touch. He wanted nothing but to get away from the strangers, there were so many eyes watching him. The lights were too bright for his eyes, and the world was blurry, as were the words the strangers spoke.

A laugh rang through his ears, clear as a kyber crystal. But it did not come from the cloudy world. Instead it came from him.

And suddenly everything came snapping back into place. He recognized that his dark-self was still inside of him. He blinked and the world came back into focus, as did the voices of his worried friends.

"Ezra!"

"Kanan, lay him on the table."

"He's losing blood fast."

"When did this happen?"

Ezra shook off the voice inside of his head.

"What's-" Ezra started to say, before Hera cut him off.

"Ezra, are you with me?" Ezra looked around, realizing he was on the med bay counter, pinned down by Kanan and Zeb. Their grip was strong, as if he was struggling against them. Realizing he had been, he relaxed, but their pressure did not do the same.

"Yeah, I'm here. What's going on?"

Hera exchanged a glance with Kanan, who was positioned over his head, pinning down his arms. She looked back at Kanan and spoke.

"Ezra, you have a concussion." Sabine handed Hera a white cloth, and she began pressing the cold liquid onto his forehead.

"Ah!" Ezra gasped, and the grip on his arms and legs tightened. "How is that so cold?" Hera gave a quick smile as she continued to dab.

"Alright." Hera said, grabbing a new cloth from Sabine. "Kanan, keep his head steady." Kanan slowly removed his hands from Ezra's arms and straightened his head. Ezra stared up at the white celling.

"Not much of a view." His comment earned a slight chuckle from Kanan.

"How bad is it?" Zeb asked.

"Well, it's not a skull fracture," Hera said, as she continued to put pressure on the injury. "But it was defiantly close. Would someone like to explain to me what happened?"

The crew stopped talking, all avoiding Hera's eye contact. Ezra turned his head towards Hera and spoke.

"The principal grabbed me and-" Kanan shifted his head back up to the celling. "And slammed my face into a table."

"What?" Hera exclaimed, and Ezra presumed that she was looking at Kanan for an explanation. She scoffed under her breath, and placed a gauze dressing on his forehead. She began using medical tape to secure it in place, and Zeb released his legs from his hold.

He watched Hera apply the tape as his eyes became too heavy to keep open. He slowly let himself ease into the comfort of the dark.

* * *

Kanan walked out of the med bay, the door sliding shut behind him. Hera turned around to face him, her face filled with worry. Sabine and Zeb, taking the hint, left them alone to talk.

"Kanan, what happened in there?" He only looked down at the floor, recalling what had occurred. "He tried to walk out of the med bay like nothing had happened! Who does that?" Kanan shook his head.

"I don't know, Hera. It is normal for him to avoid his injuries. But I agree; something was wrong." Kanan stroked his soul patch. "And when I caught him, he looked at me like…like he didn't know me."

"Not to mention he wouldn't let me see his injury." They stood there in silence, lost in their thoughts about Ezra.

"Well, we'll ask him what happened when he wakes up," Kanan said, putting his worries to rest temporarily. "He needs his rest." Hera nodded in agreement.

"And in the meantime, you can tell me the whole story of how this mission spiraled out of control."

"Yeah…" Kanan said, with a nervous chuckle. "Right."

Hera raised her eyebrow and turned, walking down the hallway. Kanan turned towards the med bay door before he followed. Kanan knew Ezra was keeping something from him. He could still sense something dark about his padawan, but he shook his head at that thought. His padawan was back, as was his sense of humor that he exhibited earlier.

The feeling lingered, and Kanan knew that this was not over.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	17. Chapter 17

Hello! Let me just apologize in advance for this chapter. First of all it's the longest chapter I've ever written. Second of all, the story is coming to an end and things are really picking up. There will be 20 chapters because even numbers and these last ones are going to be really long. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter 17 – Youngling**

Ezra awoke to a strange sight. He stood on a grassy field that resembled Lothal's, but something was different. As he rotated his gaze, there was no infrastructure in sight. Just miles and miles of fields, every breeze creating waves along the tall grass. The breeze blew from behind, making his unruly hair block his eyesight. He turned around to face the wind, and his vision became clear. And what he saw shocked him.

Before him a man stood, his cloak flapping against his body. His cloak concealed a strange outfit, and he carried no weapon. His red hair and beard was beginning to show signs of aging, but it was combed and parted neatly to the side. He looked familiar to Ezra, but he could not pinpoint who he was.

"Hello, youngling," the man said. Ezra looked around again, but seeing as no one else was there, he turned back to face the man.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Obi what?" Ezra asked. The man smiled, but did not respond. "Where am I?"

"Where ever you want to be," Obi -Wan replied, as if it was a matter-of-fact.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that this," Obi-Wan gestured to their surroundings. "Is not real. It's just a state of mind." Ezra looked at the man in confusion. Of course this was real, how could it not be? "I sense your confusion, youngling. And I do not expect you to understand. That is not the purpose of my journey here."

"Well then, what was your purpose?" Ezra said, going along with the old man who Ezra thought had some missing screws.

"There is a great darkness inside of you." And suddenly the grassy plains of Lothal grew dark. But this was not like the typical night on Lothal; all of the stars were missing, leaving an eerie feeling that settled over.

"Yeah, I got that part," Ezra said, staring up at the pitch black sky. Even without the light, he was able to see the grassy plains.

"Then I take it you know how to get rid of it?" Obi-Wan asked. Ezra looked down from the sky and at the old man, who raised his eyebrows at him all-knowingly.

"Well, not exactly." Obi-Wan smiled for a brief second, before it turned back into his neutral face.

"The darkness has bonded with you, youngling. It will not let go."

"If it won't let go, how am I supposed to get rid of it?"

"Patience, youngling," Obi-Wan said, sighing.

"Why do you keep-" Realization dawned on Ezra as he looked back at Obi-Wan. "You're a Jedi, aren't you?" Obi-Wan smiled and gave a slight nod.

"Kanan and I…are we the only ones?" Obi-Wan sighed.

"For now, yes."

"But what about you?"

"Now is your time to fight, not mine." Ezra nodded along, taking in every word Obi-Wan said. "And to do that, you must rid yourself of this darkness."

"Just, tell me what to do."

"It will not be simple, youngling. You must do _exactly_ as I say." Ezra paused, weighing the risks. He could feel the darkness inside of him, crawling through his mind, its energy flowing through his veins. Its voice boomed through his thoughts, telling him lies and threats.

"I trust you," Ezra said, and he could have sworn that Obi-Wan had muttered something under his breath before revealing his instructions.

"You remind me of him."

* * *

Kanan had finished explaining the mission to Hera a few hours ago, and had since then been resting in his bunk. He meditated, sitting cross-legged on a small circular cushion, becoming one with the force.

And that's when he felt it.

A surge of energy ripped through him, and left Kanan gasping out in pain. He sat there for a few moments, catching his breath and trying to pinpoint what exactly had happened. He stood up, his legs aching from sitting so long, and he walked out of his cabin. He was not sure where he was going, but he knew that something was beckoning him. He walked down the hallways of the Ghost, most of them eerily silent now that the crew was recovering from the last mission.

He looked up at the door to the med bay, and instantly recognized the surge of energy he had felt before. Kanan walked in, the coolness of the room making him shiver, and he turned to his padawan.

Ezra lay perfectly still on the med bay table, his bandage still covering his wound. The source of whatever had gone through Kanan was definitely here. Although, Kanan was still not sure what it was. But he had no doubt that Ezra would.

Feeling powerless and unable to help his padawan, Kanan took a seat on the med bay table across from Ezra, and began meditating.

* * *

Ezra took a deep breath, focusing on his thoughts.

He felt the cold metal of the med bay counter piercing through his shirt. No longer was he in the Lothal plains with the old man; he was back on the Ghost, safe with his crew. He opened his eyes, wincing at the blinding light. As his eyes slowly adjusted, he became aware of the migraine that he now had. He struggled to sit up, but being stubborn as always, ignored the pain. He bit his lip in order to suppress his groan, but a sharp inhale of his breath still got out. And this was all it took to awaken his master.

Ezra did not know Kanan was in the room but was quickly aware of his presence when a hand on his back eased him up. Ezra took a deep breath, and after allowing his body to adjust to sitting upright, he allowed his body to relax.

"Hey, Ezra…" Kanan said, leaning forward as if to meet his eyesight. "How are you feeling?" His throat was dry and hoarse, making his voice sound foreign even to himself.

"Kay…" Ezra managed to say. He rubbed his eyes, even after sleeping for who knows how long, he was dead tired.

"Are you hungry?" Ezra nodded. "I'll go get you something. Wait here." Kanan left the room before Ezra had a chance to respond. Sarcastic comment aside, he assessed his injuries.

He reached up and ran his fingers over the gauze on his forehead. He winced in pain as he poked at it. Feeling for any other injuries, Ezra found a cloth wrapped around his left arm, where he was stabbed with the needle. His gaze wandered around the room. It was a mess. Broken shelves and glass were all over the floor, as was a few spots of blood.

_You did this to them._

Guilt ran through his mind as he recalled watching in horror at what he did. Kanan, being thrown into a cabinet, Zeb being pushed into a shelf, Hera-

Ezra shook his head. No, that was not him. That was the darkness that took over him. He would never do that to anyone.

_But they don't know that._

No, they do know it. They could tell.

_They're afraid of you._

No, that could not be true-

_They hate you._

Ezra paused, his mind suddenly quiet. How could they not hate him? He had been a pain since the first moment he arrived, but that was just because he did not know how to feel about them. But they did not know that, no. They probably did all hate him. They took a chance at letting him stay with them, and here he was, almost killing them. They would be better off without him.

Ezra picked up the scalpel that was lying nearby and began inspecting it. Its sharp edge glimmered under the intense lights. He ran his finger across the blade, careful not to do any damage.

"Ezra?" He looked up at Hera, who stood in the doorway. Lost in his thoughts, he did not hear the sound of the door opening. Her green eyes gazed down at the scalpel he was holding, and Ezra fidgeted slightly. "Kanan said you were up. How are you feeling?" She walked over to him and took the seat where Kanan had sat, leaning forward. Ezra continued to play with the medical tool, avoiding Hera's gaze.

"I'm okay." He did not want Hera to worry about him; he was not that important to the crew anyway.

"Ezra, look at me," Hera responded in a gentle voice. Ezra slowly met her gaze. "Ezra, what's wrong?" Her hands slowly took the scalpel out of his hands. Ezra was surprised; she had genuine worry on her face.

_She's faking it. She only pities you._

No, no. It was real concern, something that had become almost foreign to him long ago. Ezra ran his hand over his bandage, the slight pain clearing his mind. The darkness had snuck into his mind, telling him lies about the crew.

The pain subsided, and his mind was free once more. But he did not know how long that was going to last.

"Ezra?" He looked at Hera again, and this time spoke.

"Can…can I ask you a question?"

"Anything." Ezra took a deep breath.

"Do you…" Ezra fidgeted, knowing that this was not a normal question to be asked, but not seeing any other way around it. "Do you hate me?" Ezra said, merely at a whisper as he looked at the ground.

"Oh, Ezra," was all that he heard before he was embraced in a tight hug. It surprised him at first; not expecting the contact, but the love of it all overwhelmed him. "Ezra, we don't hate you. We could never hate you. We care about you, and we're worried for you." Hera's soothing words continued as she tightened her embrace.

The door slid open again, and they both looked up. Kanan stood there with a fairly large ration of many different kinds of foods. When he looked at Hera, Kanan shrugged.

"I didn't know what you liked." He walked over and placed the plate on his lap, the heat seeping through and warming his legs.

"I'm not really picky," Ezra said, scratching the back of his head. He did not make eye contact with Hera or Kanan, not wanting to bring up his past. He picked up a small piece of food that he had never seen before and took a small bite. Despite his hunger, his stomach was a bit out of sorts.

"Right," Kanan merely said. Hera stood up and after having some sort of silent conversation with Kanan, she left. Kanan sighed and took the seat that Hera had just vacated. Ezra, knowing the questions were coming, put down the piece of food.

"Ezra…" Kanan started, but stopped and gathered his words.

_He's going to abandon you._

Ezra shook the thought out of his head, recognizing that it was not him talking. It was his dark self, not him. Kanan would never do that.

Ezra looked back up at Kanan, who stared at him in a questioning gaze.

"What?" Kanan continued to stare, his eyes narrowing.

"You can hear him, can't you?" Ezra stared in disbelief. Kanan sighed. "Oh, Ezra…"

"What? It's not like I believe him." Ezra crossed his arms, wanting to look strong despite the fear that he was feeling.

"Believe him? What is that supposed to mean?" Ezra bit his lip and he avoided Kanan's gaze. "Ezra… please, you need to tell me."

"He…he tells me lies… about you, and about… everything." Ezra knew that his master would not stop at that.

"Ezra, there's something you're not telling me."

_He hates you. Everyone hates you. Just get it over with._

Ezra glanced over to where Hera placed the scalpel, knowing that it was not him thinking, but he could not stop thinking about it. Kanan followed his gaze, seeing the scalpel lying on the counter across from where they sat. They sat there in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

Kanan then stood and walked over to the counter. He turned around to face Ezra.

"I'll be right back." And with that he was gone. Ezra looked back to where the scalpel was, but it was gone.

Ezra sat in the cold med bay alone, his mind a mess of thoughts, unsure which ones were his and which ones were not.

* * *

Hera pulled up the blueprints of the Imperal Research Center they were going to break into. Fulcrum had sent the plans to her, and they needed to act quickly. Since Ezra was down and out, they needed to come up with a plan that did not involve using the air vents, as they had come to favor since Ezra had joined.

Hera sighed as her thoughts brought her back to the youngest member of the crew. How could he have possibly thought that the crew hated him? They were all worried sick. Hera brought her thoughts back to the task at hand.

"Sabine," she said, and after a few taps at her wrist, the plans were displayed on the holo table. "Thank you. Now, if we want to pull this off, we'll need to use the Phantom to get in close. We'll do our standard twenty-six drop off." Sabine and Zeb nodded along, but Hera knew their minds were elsewhere. She too was lost in her worry for Ezra.

The doors slid open and they all turned their gazes to Kanan. He had a wild anguish in his eyes, and it set Hera on edge.

"Whoa, Kanan, where's the fire?" Zeb asked. Kanan ignored him.

"Hera, where did this come from?" Kanan, taking a step closer, held out the scalpel as she looked at it. From such a hurried entrance, Hera was expecting more than just their scalpel.

"It came from the med bay, love."

"I know that, but why was it lying on the counter, in the open?" Hera was more confused than before. What was so important about one scalpel? Sabine and Zeb leaned forward, wanting to know what was going on.

"I put it there when I took it from Ezra." Kanan grimaced. He turned to Zeb and Sabine.

"I need you two to take everything out of Ezra's room."

"What?" they said in unison.

"You heard me. Anything sharp, any tool – everything." Kanan turned and raced back out. Hera, after exchanging a baffled glance with the others, raced after him.

Kanan had rounded the corner and Hera shot after him.

"Kanan!" She shouted, and rounded the corner. He had stopped in his tracks, and Hera knew that it was not her voice that stopped him. His back muscles were tense and his fists clenched. "What are you doing? Did you forget that we're supposed to be planning a mission?"

"I think the dark side of Ezra is in his head."

"What? Sabine's mixture worked, he doesn't have the yellow eyes any-"

"It's not just about the eyes." Kanan's fearful gaze met Hera's. "His mind is tempting him to turn back into his dark self. Sabine's mixture only worked half way, just pushing the darkness away."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that he could still turn at any moment. And this-" Kanan held up the scalpel. "This is what it's trying to make him do." Hera struggled to grasp what Kanan was saying, and had to hurry to walk beside him.

"And what exactly is his dark-self trying to make him do?"

"I don't know. And that's what worries-" Kanan stopped again, as if listening to something. "Uh oh."

"Kanan?"

"I can hear it. Through the force. He's speaking to Ezra right now." Hera was lost at what Kanan was saying, but she knew that Ezra was in trouble. Kanan sprinted to the med bay with Hera right behind.

Kanan stood in front of the door when a clattering noise came from inside. Exchanging a quick glance, Kanan opened the door.

Hera gasped in shock at what she saw.

The room was dark, the bright lights now only flickering, revealing a silhouette standing before them. Ezra stood with his back facing them, his fingers clenched in a fist. The lights continued to flicker, but the only sound was the steady dripping of Ezra's blood.

"Ezra?" Kanan asked. Ezra stood up taller, but did not turn around.

His blue lightsaber ignited, and Kanan took a step in front of Hera, who continued to stare in shock.

"Ezra…" he turned around, his bright yellow eyes bearing into their own. He smiled an evil grin. "Ezra is not here at the moment."

"Run!" Kanan shouted, shoving Hera out of the med bay. She caught a glimpse of Ezra jumping, wielding his lightsaber down on Kanan. They two blue blades connected, but this was not practice. The door slid shut, the sound of slashing muffled.

Hera got up from the ground, unsure what she had to do. All of her bones wanted to bang on the door, to open it and get Kanan out of there. She knew that he could not kill his padawan, and he knew that if Kanan was killed, Ezra would not be able to live.

But Kanan already had a plan in place.

Hera sprinted off to Ezra's room.

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(Next update will be Friday!)

R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	18. Chapter 18

Hello! I hope you like this chapter!

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**Chapter 18 – The Truth**

Kanan shoved Hera out of the med bay as Ezra's blade connected with his own. He could feel the pure hate and anger in each blow, and Kanan could not be more afraid. This was his padawan, his student. Ezra brought him back to reality, connected him to a culture that he thought was dead. He could not lose him.

Kanan blocked another swing of his padawan's blade, their blue light clashing in the dark room.

"Ezra, this isn't you!" Kanan said, deflecting his padawan's blade left and right. He was being pushed back closer and closer into a corner.

"No, it isn't," the dark-Ezra said, their blades locking. Kanan felt the wall at his back as his padawan pushed their blades closer towards Kanan. "Ezra is gone now, and he's not coming back."

"What did you do to him?" Kanan was locked against the wall, and with no way out, he just had to hold his own and keep his padawan talking.

"Ha! It was so _easy_ getting him to release me. I just had to use the right words." Ezra twisted his lightsaber, ripping Kanan's own blade from his grasp. It fell and clattered onto the ground. He looked back up at his padawan, his yellow eyes gleaming against his blue blade. Its tip was pointed straight at his own neck. He gulped.

"The mixture should have killed you. Why didn't it?" Kanan had to think of a way out, but he was so focused on his padawan. It was strange to hear him speak this way. It was his voice, yes, but it was not his words.

"I can never be killed." Kanan refused to believe this. There had to be a way to get his padawan back. He looked into his padawan's eyes, but there was only pure yellow, surrounded with the feelings of hate, anger, and fear.

"Ezra, I know you're in there," Kanan said, trying a different approach.

Ezra began chuckling, the evil laugh echoing through the room. He tilted his head back, and with the med bay light finally died out, the only light was his lightsaber.

"You're so naïve. Such a shame you have to die." Ezra raised his lightsaber up, the blue light held above his head, and Kanan closed his eyes. Killed by his own padawan; that was one way of dying he had not thought of. He would laugh about it one day. Maybe he would see his master again, and all the other Jedi who had been killed. All the younglings, all the masters; he would be reunited with them. It did not seem so bad when he thought of it that way.

But what would he be leaving behind? Or more specifically, who? Sabine and Zeb, and… Hera. He had never gotten the chance to tell her how he really felt. Sure, Jedi attachments were forbidden, but the Jedi way was long over. And with the Empire, there was no time to think about _love_, of all things. And what would happen to Ezra? Would stay this way forever, and join the Empire? Or would he snap out of it, and realize that he killed his master? Kanan had felt the grief of someone else killing his master, but if it had been him, he would have never forgiven himself.

He heard the sound of the lightsaber swooshing downward, and then nothing. But he felt no pain. Kanan opened his eyes, looking right into his padawan's.

They were yellow at the center, but creeping up from the outside were sparks of electric blue. Ezra was coming back, and not a second too soon.

"Kanan," Ezra whispered, licking his dry lips. The lightsaber clattered to the ground, leaving them in complete darkness. Kanan heard a thump and crackling glass. Ezra's scream filled the room. Kanan quickly reached out for his lightsaber, and it came to him without hesitation. Kanan ignited it, the blue light making it difficult to see clearly. But Ezra's body lying on the ground was indisputable.

Kanan hurried to Ezra, kneeling down and trying to sooth his tense body.

"Ezra!" Kanan tried to pull Ezra up onto his knees, but he squirmed out of his grasp, back onto the glass. Kanan ignored the pain on his legs and the evident warm liquid forming on the floor.

But suddenly, Ezra stopped. Kanan froze in his spot, worried if his dark-self had won. Kanan had almost lost to his padawan before, and considering that most of the blood on the ground was his, he would not stand a chance.

In the dim light, he saw Ezra struggle to get off the ground, and failing. Kanan hurried over, not caring if it was his padawan or the dark Ezra. He withdrew his lightsaber and began picking Ezra up. He was lighter than he looked. With one arm under the nook of his legs and the other wrapped around his shoulder, Kanan stood.

His legs burned with every step, but he continued on. He walked out of the dark med bay, or whatever was left of it, the light temporarily blinding him. Once his eyes adjusted, he was able to take a look at his padawan, and was surprised at what he saw.

Ezra was conscious, staring up at him. Yet his eyes were still multicolored, with yellow at the center and blue around the edges.

"You can't save me." Kanan continued walking down the halls, trying to ignore the fact that this was his Ezra talking, not the dark Ezra. "He says he needs this body. He says you all hate me."

"That's not true, Ezra. You have to be strong, for me," Kanan said, hoping that Zeb and Sabine had done what he asked.

"Kanan…" Kanan looked down at his padawan as the blue slowly faded from his eyes.

"Ezra. Ezra!" Kanan shouted, picking up the pace to his room. "Ezra, stay with me!" But no matter how loud Kanan shouted, and no matter what he said, Ezra continued to fade away.

"I'm sorry," Ezra said, his voice barely a whisper as he closed his eyes.

Kanan ran.

Hera was yelling at Zeb and Sabine, and they shot out of the room Ezra and Zeb shared. Kanan rushed inside, with Hera and the crew right behind. He lied Ezra down on Zeb's bed, the room bare. Hera stepped forward as Zeb pulled Kanan away. Kanan did not resist. His legs burned in pain, and he was so tired. Everything else was a blur as Zeb leaned him against a wall. He sunk down to the ground and let his body get the rest he so desperately needed.

* * *

Ezra did not want to open his eyes.

He had let the darkness in again, and he had almost killed Kanan. He was lucky enough to take back control, but it had messed up his head. His memories were fading away; the earliest he could remember was when he was eight, when his parents were taken. All the memories before then were gone.

But to save Kanan, it was worth it. His parents were probably dead anyway.

But he could not face the crew. By now, they should have him handcuffed and thrown into the ocean, so the darkness could not hurt them. Ezra knew that he had fear in him, but he could not change that. His years on the street had done that to him; and there was no going back.

Some wounds could not be healed.

He released a deep breath, and gathering his nerves, opened his eyes. Looking around the room, it was unrecognizable. But after seeing the image Sabine had painted on the wall, he knew that this was his room.

But he was lying in Zeb's bed, and he was not dead. Something was definitely wrong.

Ezra slowly sat up, pushing his hear out of his face. He looked down at his left arm that was now freshly bandaged, and recalled what had made his dark-self come out.

After Kanan had left, the voice had gotten louder, insulting him and his crew, planting seeds of doubt. Every mistake he had ever made, every screw up, every fear. And it had driven him over the edge. He had tumbled down, and he had given up. He had given in.

And it had almost cost Kanan his life.

He had been pushed back, and the first thing his dark-self had done was slice open the wound where the needle had entered. But Ezra had not seen him do it. He had cut the lights. And then Kanan was there with Hera, and the looks on their faces-

Even if what his dark-self had said before was a lie, it was certainly true now.

Ezra swung his legs over the edge of the bed and slid down so his feet could touch the ground. And odd feeling scratched at his mind, and he remembered what he had forgotten; Obi-Wan's plan.

His words echoed through his head, and he shivered. He was afraid of carrying it out, but if it meant that his dark-self would leave his mind, he would do it. He just wanted to tell Kanan. He walked over to the door, and was surprised when it did not slide open. He clicked the button on the side, but the door was locked.

"Blast it." He banged on the door, hoping that someone would come along and fix it.

"Ezra, is that you?" he heard Sabine say.

"Yeah. Could you open the door? I need to talk to Kanan." Sabine did not respond. "Sabine?"

Ezra's mind started to panic. They had locked the door on purpose. They were locking him up. Ezra took a step back, afraid of Kanan coming to the door. He could already imagine his stern voice booming over him, telling him he was not wanted on the team.

He half expected the darkness inside of him to say something, but all was silent. If this was a good sign or a bad sign, Ezra did not know.

"Ezra?" Kanan's voice was muffled by the walls. Ezra gulped and slid as far away as possible from the door. His back eased on the far wall. "Ezra, I'm so sorry."

His fears were coming true. Ezra's body quivered. He was going to be on his own again, alone. He had always thought that it would happen, that he would end up alone as he always did, but he was beginning to actually believe that they liked him. He was so _stupid_, how could anyone ever want him?

"Ezra, I can't do this." _No._ "I'm coming in." The door opened, and Ezra stared in shock. Kanan was going to get rid of him, why would he come in?

Kanan and Ezra locked eyes as the door slid shut, locking them both in here. Ezra glanced down at Kanan's legs. His pants were rolled up above his knees, and below bandages covered his legs. Ezra's stomach dropped in guilt. He had done that to him.

"Ezra, you didn't do that," Kanan said, his voice smooth and calming. He took a step closer to Ezra, and automatically he flinched. Pain flashed through Kanan's eyes.

"Please," Ezra begged. "I don't want to hurt you."

Kanan took another step towards Ezra, and this time he did not flinch.

"Ezra, you can't hurt me. Look around." Kanan gestured to their surroundings. "There is nothing in here."

Kanan was right; the room was bare. But Ezra was still on edge.

"I almost killed you." Kanan chuckled slightly.

"It takes a lot more to kill me." They locked eyes again, and Kanan sighed. "Ezra, that wasn't you. We all know that."

"No, it's my fault. I let him in." Ezra sunk down the wall and sat on the cold floor. He tucked his knees to his chest, comforting himself as he always did when the world was caving in on him.

Kanan was beside him in an instant, wrapping his arm around Ezra.

"Just tell me what happened. From the beginning."

"The beginning?" Ezra questioned.

"Okay, maybe not the beginning. But where ever you want to start, I'm listening." Ezra swallowed his nervousness and began to speak.

"Well, after I woke up in the med-bay, and after you left, the voices got… stronger."

"What did they say?" Ezra sniffled, and Kanan glanced at him. "Ezra?"

"He… he convinced me that I was a mistake. Worthless and not wanted."

"Ezra, you're not a mistake. You know that, right?" Kanan said, hugging Ezra tighter. Ezra shrugged.

"It's hard to tell." They sat like that for a while, Ezra sniffling and hiding his tears from Kanan, as he continued to comfort him. After Ezra's tears dried out, Kanan spoke again.

"What happened before that?" Ezra took a moment to think.

"Hera was patching up my forehead. In the med bay."

"No, no. When you were asleep."

Ezra froze. Had Kanan felt the presence of Obi-Wan in his dream? He had to have. Ezra made a split decision at the last moment.

"I was asleep. I don't remember what happened." Kanan did not respond, and Ezra thought he was going to question further. Instead, he gave Ezra one last tight embrace, and stood.

"Alright. But the crew and I have to go steal plans from an Imperial Information center. I tried to convince Hera to let me stay, but she needs all hands on deck." Ezra nodded, understanding. "Will you be okay here on your own?"

Ezra swallowed his fear. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Kanan gave one last glance back at Ezra before the door slid shut, locking Ezra in this room.

He heard the Phantom unlatching from the Ghost, leaving him alone on the ship. Ezra stood up. He had to follow through with Obi-Wan's plan. Pulling a small pick from in his boot, he walked over to the door and began to pick it. Within a few moments, the door slid open.

Ezra walked through the empty halls, avoiding the med-bay, and walked onto the ramp leading down onto the grassy plains of Lothal.

He was really going to follow through. He was really going to do this. He trusted Obi-Wan, but that did not mean he was not afraid.

Ezra broke into a run, racing towards the building Obi-Wan had said to go. If all went according to plan, Kanan and the Inquisitor would be there.

He should have told Kanan the truth, but he could not bring himself to say that he was going to die.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	19. Chapter 19

Hello! So I was supposed to post this chapter yesterday, but I was so wrapped up in the new fic I was writing that it totally slipped my mind. I am so sorry, that was my bad. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!

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**Chapter 19 – Ready **

All was quiet on the streets of Lothal. A few people walked by, shopping at the market. Stormtroopers walked along their patrols. It was a normal day on the quiet outer-rim planet.

Glass shattering caused the people below to scream in shock. They looked up at the source; the Imperial Information Center. The glass was falling, and among the debris was a man in green. He was thrown out of the window, the push so hard he fell through the roof of the opposite building. A Pua'an stood in the empty window frame, looking down at the crowd. His red lightsaber flew across the dimming sky as he jumped into the building where the man had fallen.

The people on the streets fled.

* * *

Ezra watched as Kanan fell through the roof of the abandoned warehouse. He landed in a pile of rubble, and he moaned as he rolled off of it. Ezra wanted to help him, but he had to follow the plan to the letter, or else his dark-self would forever take over.

_Let me in._

Ezra shook his head. He would never let him in again, not after what happened last time. But he had no doubt that his dark-self would find another way in. Ezra cleared his mind as he sat cross-legged in the corner of the dark building, ignoring the taunts of his dark-self.

Kanan struggled to stand, using a column to support himself. He force pulled his lightsaber to him as the Inquisitor flew in from the hole in the ceiling. He landed gracefully, looking up at Kanan.

They both stood and began circling each other.

"No one can save you now," the Inquisitor baited. Kanan remained focused, refusing to return the taunt. "I hear you're having padawan troubles, yes?"

"Shut up."

"Ah, that seemed to catch your attention. Unfortunately due to the past failures, the program was exterminated, along with the members working on the project." Kanan raised his eyebrows at the Inquisitor's comment. They continued to circle each other, each step deliberate and planned.

"But I _am_ happy to report that because of your padawan, the program will start back up again."

"What have you done?" Kanan threatened.

"Let's just say that your padawan will be our new lab rat."

"Don't you dare touch him!" Kanan shot forward, wielding his lightsaber towards the Inquisitor. Their blades locked, making the indisputable noise. Left and right the blades clashed, as Ezra watched in awe. He had hoped to become a great Jedi one day, the one Kanan saw in him. But soon, none of that would matter.

_Don't do this. You won't like what you'll find._

Ezra took a deep breath and disregarded the words thrown at him.

_I'll kill you from the inside first._

Obi-Wan had been right, his dark-self had known what would happen if Ezra died. And it was scared. Ezra tried to remember his parents, but there was nothing. He tried to remember his tower, something more recent, but did he ever live in a tower?

His earliest memory was training with Kanan on top of the Ghost. He had fallen off, but Kanan had caught him with the force. His dark-self was closing in on him. If he erased enough of his memory, Ezra would let him in, not knowing what he would become.

Ezra opened his eyes, watching the Inquisitor kick Kanan to the ground.

"It's too late for that. My forces have already apprehended your padawan. He'll be of great use to the Empire."

Kanan struggled to recover. He tried to stand up, but it was no use. The Inquisitor was standing over him, his red lightsaber raised.

Everything was playing out exactly as Obi-Wan said it would.

Ezra stood, knowing what he had to do.

"Stay away from him!" he shouted. The Inquisitor and Kanan looked over at him as he stepped out of the darkness.

"Well, look what we have here," the Inquisitor said, stepping over a shocked Kanan. Before he could get any closer, Ezra raised his hand, sending the Inquisitor sliding back to the opposite end of the warehouse. He quickly recovered as Ezra stayed where he was.

"Tell me, boy," the Inquisitor looked back at Kanan, who was still in shock. Ezra avoided his eyesight. "How far back can you remember?"

Ezra gulped as his earliest memory came into his head.

"Well? Tell me know, I'm sure your _master_ is dying to know." Ezra had no choice but to keep the Inquisitor talking.

"Empire day." The Inquisitor laughed.

"Seems that time is catching up with you, orphan." He looked back down at Kanan, who was still in disbelief. "Oh, and it seems you have forgotten to inform your master of your predicament." Ezra stole a glance to his master, who looked at him with worry, and betrayal.

"I'm not afraid," Ezra said. And he was not. The guilt of almost killing his master, almost killing the people who had given him hope was too much to endure. He was ready to die.

The Inquisitor shot forward, but was quickly thrown back into the wall. But this time, it was not Ezra who had forced him.

Ezra looked at Kanan, who was still lying on the ground, unable to get up. His arm was extended, and his green eyes meet his own.

"Kid, run!" he shouted, eyes pleading for him to escape. Ezra walked over to him and forced his arm down. The Inquisitor dropped.

"Kid, what are you doing?" Kanan questioned. Ezra wanted to tell him everything, to tell him that everything was going to be fine, but he could not bring himself to lie to his master.

"Kanan, please don't blame yourself for this." Ezra stood, walking away.

"Ezra. Ezra!" Kanan shouted, and Ezra had to resist turning back around. It would be better for all of them if he did this. He had to do this.

He faced the Inquisitor on the other side of the warehouse.

"You want to make me your lab rat?" Ezra taunted. "Then come and get me!" Ezra crouched down and force leaped through the hole in the ceiling. He deliberately dropped his com on the way. Once landing safely on the roof, he glanced back down. The com had landed a few feet away from Kanan, but he did not see it. They locked eyes, and as Ezra broke the trance, he could have sworn he saw a tear falling down Kanan's face.

* * *

The Inquisitor had wasted no time in following Ezra through the ceiling, leaving Kanan helpless. He stayed lying on the ground, thoughts swarming through his mind.

Ezra's memory was fading. He was going to forget who he was, or he has already forgotten.

The Inquisitor is chasing Ezra on Lothal, and Ezra had nothing to defend himself with.

_Don't blame yourself for this._

Kanan did not want to know what that meant.

Using all the strength he could muster, Kanan pulled himself up. Pain shot through his body, but he ignored it. Kanan stumbled over to Ezra's communicator, his broken after the fall, and spoke.

"Spector 2, come in."

"Spector 1, what happened?" Hera's voice was filled with worry.

"The Inquisitor is hunting Ezra. We need to find him. Spector 1 out." Kanan knew that Hera would have questions, but saving his padawan came first.

Kanan carefully crouched down, and with the help of the force, shot upward through the hole he had fallen through. He landed ungraciously, stumbling onto the roof. After catching his breath, he stood, scanning the city for any sign of Ezra.

The cool night breeze blew, making Kanan shiver. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of red. It had to be Ezra. Kanan leapt from building to building, stumbling and falling, but refusing to give up.

He had to get to his padawan before he did something reckless.

Kanan jumped onto the building where he saw the flash of red. He looked around, hoping that his padawan was still alive, or that he had some sort of a plan.

He heard the Inquisitor's roar.

Quickly identifying the source, the alley below, Kanan rushed over to the side, and was terrified at what he saw.

The Inquisitor was charging at Ezra, his red blade pointed right at his chest. And Ezra stood there, unmoving. His arms were at his side, and his eyes were closed. Kanan had to do something, he had to jump in front of his padawan, he had to use the force; he had to do _something_.

But even if he had done something, it was already too late.

The Inquisitor reached Ezra and his blade shot through him. Ezra opened his eyes and mouth, gasping at the pain.

Kanan watched in horror as the light drained from his electric blue eyes.

The Inquisitor retracted his blade from Ezra's body, and he fell onto his knees. He slumped over onto the alley ground, his neck rolling upwards. Kanan's gaze meet with Ezra's glassy eyes.

The Inquisitor looked up at Kanan and smiled. Kanan continued to stand there in shock, his eyes never leaving Ezra's corpse.

Kanan jumped down to the alley, stumbling as he tried to get closer to Ezra. The Inquisitor chuckled at his pain, setting Kanan over the edge. He whipped around and held out his hand, the force pushing the Inquisitor out of the alley and into a brick wall. He did not get up.

Kanan turned his attention back to Ezra, kneeling down beside him. He pulled Ezra's head up and rested it on his lap. He felt his neck for a pulse, but he only felt cold skin. Ezra's eyes were still open and unblinking, and no air was released from his open mouth. Kanan looked down at the wound. It was in the middle of Ezra's torso, still steaming from the blade.

"Ezra," Kanan said, his voice barely a whisper. "Ezra, please, you have to wake up." Kanan lightly tapped his cheek, a trick that had awoken him before. But he did not move. "No, no Ezra. You have to stay with me. You're my padawan. I'm supposed to protect you, I'm supposed to keep you safe. You had grown up too fast, but we were going to change that. You could be a kid again, Ezra, no please. You can't die, you're too young. Ezra!"

Kanan did not know when his words turned into cries, or when those cries were replaced by sobs. He had stayed like that, in the dark alley, kneeling over his padawan's body, desperately hoping that he was not dead.

But a part of him knew that he would never see the electric sparks in Ezra's bright blue eyes again.

* * *

There was still no sign of Kanan. Zeb, Sabine, Chopper and Hera all waited in the Ghost for Kanan to return, and all were worried. It was not like Kanan to be this late. Hera knew that something must have happened, but what she could only imagine.

The door slid open and Hera jumped up from her seat. Kanan stood in the doorway, his eyes bloodshot and his face blotchy. Hera's nerves got to her as they locked eyes. Kanan looked defeated, lost, and without hope.

And it broke Hera's heart. If that was what Kanan was feeling, then that could only mean one thing.

"Kanan…" she said, keeping her voice low. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh as he whispered.

"In my room." Hera cautiously walked by Kanan, who had moved out of the way. She looked at Sabine and Zeb, and after giving them a look that said _stay here_, she walked towards Kanan's room.

She knew what she would see, but it was different when she was imagining it. Opening the door, she closed her eyes and stepped inside, the door closing behind her. Opening them, the tears had already begun to flow. Ezra lied on Kanan's bunk, his arms at his side and his legs slightly bent. His eyes were still open, staring up at the ceiling. Hera covered her mouth, trying to hold in her escaping sobs.

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R &amp; R

~ Kavella ~


	20. Chapter 20

Hello! Sorry this took so long to update, I was having trouble writing it. I hope you enjoy the last chapter!

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**Chapter 20 – Safe**

The Ghost was silent.

Utterly silent.

There was nothing left to say.

Kanan tilted his head up, the brown liquid rushing down his throat. He knew he should not be drinking, but it numbed the pain. He swallowed, the burn stinging his throat as he put the bottle down. He had not slept since it happened; every time he closed his eyes he saw Ezra. Every thought and memory was somehow twisted back into thoughts of his young padawan.

And it was killing him.

It was his fault Ezra had died. If he had just been stronger, if he was just able to fend off the Inquisitor for a bit longer…

The Inquisitor. Kanan clenched his fists. He would pay for what he had done. Kanan would kill him if it was the last thing he-

The glass shattered, the liquid pouring over his hands and the glass shards falling all over the table. That had been the third bottle he had broken today.

The door opened, and Kanan looked up. Hera stood, leaning against the frame of the door. She looked at Kanan in concern. Kanan only scowled.

"Kanan…."

"Hera."

Hera sighed. "Kanan, this isn't good for you."

"No, it isn't."

"So why are you doing it?" Hera asked. She walked over and sat next to Kanan, who stood up.

"What's the point?" He grabbed a cloth and wiped the alcohol and glass shards off of his hand.

"The point is you're going to kill yourself because of Ezra's death."

"And why shouldn't I? It was my fault he got killed. I wasn't strong enough." Kanan turned around to look at Hera.

"You're drunk," she stated.

"Oh, I am _way _past drunk."

"Kanan, there's something else, isn't there? Something you're not telling me?" Kanan looked down at the ground. A few moments later, he sighed. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a few papers that were crumpled up beyond belief. Hera stood up and took them.

They were frayed near the edges, but still in good condition. Hera looked over it, and her eyes widened. It was a note from the school to Ezra's parents. Ezra had gotten caught stealing food from the school lunch room and was going to be expelled. At the bottom, a hand written note was filled in.

_Student stopped attending_

"Oh, Ezra…" Hera sighed.

"He had stolen food because his parents were taken the day before. Check the date." Hera did, affirming what Kanan had said.

She removed the paper and placed it underneath the stack, moving on to the next one. It read;

_Subject 7 is able to resist the temptations. Must keep a closer eye on him. _

_Subject 7 is scheduled to be experimented on in one week. _

_Subject 7 has eluded the grasp of Roth. Must destroy all evidence. _

"Does this mean…" Hera asked, looking up at Kanan.

"Yeah, it does. Ezra would have been a test subject." Kanan turned back around. "I shouldn't have planned this mission. He was worried from the get-go because he knew what would happen if he came back. And I didn't listen."

"_We_ didn't listen, love. You can't blame yourself for something like this. We had no idea of knowing."

"He's my padawan, Hera. He's my responsibility."

"You're talking like he's your son, Kanan," Hera pointed out. Kanan sighed.

"In a way, he was."

The ship returned to silence, Kanan and Hera returning to their thoughts. Hera shifted the notes to the bottom of the stack. The next paper was Ezra's permanent record. Looking through the list of detentions and the reasons why, Hera could not help but laugh a little.

"Kanan, when your padawan was six, he got a detention for climbing up onto the roof." Kanan smiled slightly before returning to a frown.

"Yeah, that sounds like him," Kanan said.

Hera looked down at the paper, shifting Ezra's record under the others. The last paper was not like the others; it was not written on official Empire paper and the handwriting was loopy and scribbled. Hera narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of the words on the parchment.

_If…Ezra…dead…run…we're…not like the others…Empire…_

Hera could not distinguish enough words for the paper to make any sense. Her eyes shifted to the bottom, where two words stood out clearly.

"Kanan…" Hera stood up, walking over to the drunken man. He turned around, still a little tipsy, and looked at the paper. His cloudy eyes widened. "Can you read it? What does it say?" Kanan read the paper over twice before looking up at Hera.

"It's a letter from his parents."

* * *

Ezra felt a stab of excruciating pain.

And then there was nothing.

Ezra opened his eyes, surprised at what he saw. He was in space again, standing on the white platform. But something was wrong. The stars that once shone bright all around him were fading, each star going out one by one.

"You idiot!" Ezra turned and looked at the source of the voice. There, he saw himself, glowing bright yellow. But his yellow glow was flickering. He was weak. Ezra looked down at himself, and his blue grow was wavering as well. "What did you do?" His dark-self spit the words at him with venom.

"You can't live without me," Ezra said, his voice echoing through space. "But I can't live without you."

"What are you talking about?" he asked. Before the dark-Ezra could protest, the light Ezra was standing in front of him.

"The serum brought out the evil in me, separating us completely. But we were both trapped inside the same body. If I want to live, then we need to combine." Ezra forced both hands onto the yellow Ezra's shoulders, and both cringed in pain.

The stars continued to disappear.

The yellow light from the dark-Ezra was absorbing into the blue light. Ezra felt unimaginable pain, feeling as if he was drowning in flames. The yellow light vanished, leaving a strong blue glowing Ezra alone. He struggled to breathe, the pain still shaking his body.

He managed to look up and watch as the last star disappeared.

* * *

He was dead. He had to be dead.

He had watched as the Inquisitor stabbed him.

He had felt the world give out, and he had felt himself fall to the cold ground.

And yet, here he was, lying in Kanan's bed, a throbbing pain in his torso and everywhere else. Ezra craned his neck up and slipped off his vest. He ripped the hole in his clothes open, and instead of an entry wound, it was only a nasty burn.

Ezra had to hold down his stomach as he ran his fingers gently over his charred skin.

He sat up; suppressing a groan, trying to figure out what came next. Kanan's room was empty and dark, with one chair pulled close to the bed. The crew must think he was dead. In fact, Ezra thought the same. But, maybe it was better off that way. Maybe he could slip out of the Ghost, go back to his normal life.

Well, normal-ish life. Maybe it would be better for him to go back to the streets. Back then, the only problem was finding enough food to eat. On the Ghost, that problem vanished; but a lot more took its place. Stress overwhelmed him as he mentally listed his problems. They stacked up before him, piling upon each other. Yeah, life was hard before, but it sure was a whole lot simpler.

Ezra twisted his legs over the side of the bunk, hissing in pain. The pain from a stab wound was still there, but everything was intact. The door swooshed open, and Ezra looked up. Kanan stood there, eyes wide and body stiff. The door closed behind him, leaving them to gape at each other. Ezra did not know what to say. How do you tell someone that he came back to life?

Fortunately, he did not have to. Kanan took two large steps forward, engulfing Ezra in a hug. Ezra, after living alone for so long, did not react at first. But eventually, he gave in, wrapping his arms around Kanan's large shoulders. He buried his face into his green shirt, trying to ignore the fact that Kanan smelled like a musty pub.

After a few minutes, Kanan pulled away from their embrace, but his hands never left his padawan's shoulders. His sea foam eyes looked at his padawan, inspecting his wound.

"You were dead," he simply stated.

"Yeah…" Ezra replied. "About that…" Kanan shook his head at Ezra's antics, but wore a warm smile. Ezra explained what had happened, starting with his dream of Obi Wan Kenobi to the thoughts that his dark-self filled his mind with, to his 'death'. Kanan listened with intent, his focus never wavering. When Ezra was finished, his master did not speak for a while, still stunned that after watching him die, his young padawan was alive.

Kanan finally spoke up. "Ezra… I'm so sorry I let this happen." Ezra stared at the man in disbelief. An apology was the last thing he had expected.

"Kanan, it's not your fault. I'm the one who got caught."

"No, you're my responsibility now. I should be the one taking the blame." Ezra had no response to that. Instead, he absently rubbed his exposed charred skin. "Does it hurt?"

"I got stabbed in the chest with a lightsaber. Of course it hurts." Kanan chuckled, relieved that his padawan still had his charm.

"I'll get some medicine." Kanan stood, but hesitated. Instead of walking out, he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. He looked at Ezra, whose eyes widened. "Sorry, but we read through the files. And…and we think you should see this one." Kanan handed out the piece of paper, and Ezra took it. "I'll keep Hera out for a little bit so you can read it, but I can't hold her back forever." Kanan smiled, walking out into the hall.

Ezra looked down at the paper and unfolded it. Smoothing out the crinkles, Ezra recognized the handwriting immediately.

_If you're reading this Ezra, it means we're dead. You have to run, to run and never look back. We're sorry that we brought you into this whole mess. But we knew that you're not like the others. You're different, Ezra. And we knew what the Empire does to children that are different. We just hope that you'll survive and one day you understand why we did what we did. We love you. _

_Mom and Dad_

Ezra read it over and over, letting the tears fall. It had been so long since he had seen their writing, or heard their voices in his head. He was surprised that he still could read it, even after everything. He had his memory back, even after watching his mind turn black. The crew did not want to get rid of him, and neither did his parents. It was just what happened when the Empire ruled.

It was just what happened. And if it had not happened, if somehow his parents were still alive, then he never would have meet Kanan, or Hera, or Zeb, or Sabine or Chopper. He missed his parents, but he was content with this life too.

* * *

Kanan closed the door, sighing. He looked at Hera, who stood before him in shock. He nodded to her, and she took the hint. Hera rushed past him into his room to Ezra.

Kanan walked to the med-bay to get the medical supplies for his wound. He reached into his pocket, feeling the piece of ripper paper. He had torn it from the note, and the words written by Ezra's parents were the ones he was going to live by.

_Please keep him safe. _

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Fin

Hello again! I am so relieved that I finally finished this fic. It took me forever to write this chapter, but I'm satisfied with the way it turned out. I find it kind of funny that the description barely scratches the surface of this fic now.

Anyways, thank you all for reading.

~ Kavella ~


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